Agriculture in COVID-19 Pandemic: The Indian Perspective

Indian agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and like, other economies dependant on agriculture, provides employment, income, investment opportunities and through its various strong linkage effects, has direct and indirect impacts on the agriculture-related industries and the rural nonfarm economy. However, utmost attention is required to identify the factors affecting the supply side of agriculture and its diverse requirements which can have significant seasonal fluctuations. Moreover, due to the heterogenous nature of Indian agriculture, policy prescriptions need to be carefully devised to take into consideration the diverse regional needs.

In the post reforms period, the economic reforms did not directly benefit the agricultural sector though there were indirect effects percolating from the implementation of economic reforms in off-farm activities. This paper seeks to study some relevant factors responsible for agricultural growth in the Indian economy, performance of this sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and the situation of the concerned factors in contributing to Indian agriculture during this pandemic period. This is of utmost importance as certain international institutions apprehended that the current pandemic is likely to adversely affect the agricultural sector, particularly for the developing countries.