How Agriculture Has Affected During the Covid-19 Pandemic?
Published on : Wednesday 08-04-2020
The Covid-19 pandemic spreads across the world at a rapid pace. It has impacted every business across industries tremendously. Now its impact can be seen throughout the agriculture sector as the lockdown imposed across nations worldwide to prevent the spread of the virus. Despite this, the supply chain in agriculture is stepping up to keep employees ad consumers safe while delivering vital equipment, service, and commodities and food.
In the US, agriculture firms continue operating despite potential restrictions imposed to contain the virus from spreading. Major players in agriculture space across the nation with global operations said they have increased hygiene procedures and are taking crucial measures to ensure facilities keep operating.
While the agriculture market is responding to the pandemic with severe swings, flour millers around the world saw a hasty rise in demand as people in quarantine and shelter-in-place are panic-buying foods and started stockpiling flour and other grain-based foods. However, concerns about the impact of the Covid-19 on the larger economy are likely to have a vast impact on dairy prices. In European Unions, many countries have already wavered just above a recession prior to the pandemic and this event is likely to push them over the edge.
Covid-19 Impact on Indian Agriculture Industry
In India, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), a Government agri-research body, is analyzing the impact of Covid-19 and the lockdown on agriculture and allied sectors and taking measures to lower its impact on the country’s food security.
According to industry reports, the country needs nearly 250 lakh quintals of seeds for the Kharif season, whose preparation happens between March and May. But due to the lockdown imposed by the Government delays the supply of seeds as the complete seed production ecosystem is compound and requires collective efforts of allied sectors such as transport, testing labs and the packaging industry. Meanwhile, ICAR has advised wheat farmers to postpone their harvest to April 20.
On the other hand, the International Seed Federation (ISF) quoted the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR), with saying “there is currently no evidence that food, including seed, is a likely source or route of transmission of the virus.
In a bid to ease the headache from farmers’ heads, the Centre and State governments are working day and night to alleviate the fear and quickly announced exemptions for the agriculture sector, including seeds, workers, and farm-related activities. States including Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, among others, have been very proactive as they announced special packages for different sectors.
Reports also claim that India has a large segment of small and medium seed companies that are working very hard to be competitive, and fulfilling rising demands from customers. Usually, the companies in this space categorize and outsource their work to various service providers like drying, packaging or storing, etc. Many companies also take credit either from banks or private moneylenders to drive their operations.
AI and Automation in Agriculture
According to data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the agricultural services and agricultural machinery sectors in India have cumulatively enticed an FDI equity inflow of around $2.45 billion. On the other hand, the food processing sector has attracted around $7.81 billion from April 2000 to June 2017.
Apart from this, the agriculture industry is exploring innovative ways to improve crop production. In this context, automation and Artificial Intelligence technologies can play a significant role. They are able to make the monitoring of crops, soil and the entire farmland. They can also provide data of the land to farmers that can help them predict the condition of crop and soil. AI systems can also help improve the harvest quality and accuracy by detecting the diseases in plants, pests, poor plant nutrition, and more.
Several tech giants as well as startups are trying to fight agricultural issues by creating farming, irrigation and weather technology solutions. Microsoft precision agriculture, for instance, attempts to democratizing artificial intelligence for farmers worldwide.
Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic has deeply caused the agriculture sector as it slows down supply chains, delays logistics, and reduces workers in farmlands. Considering such a situation, we could say the virus has impacted the agriculture markets in a short period of time, but we also expect, the industry will quickly bounce back as governments are putting their efforts to ease the condition.