Professor Madhuri Saripalle, Professor, Economics & MBA Chairperson, IFMR GSB, Krea University along with Dr Vijaya Chebolu-Subramanian recently published her paper, Impact of COVID-19 on production decisions of marginal, small and medium farmers: empirical evidence from South India in the Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies.
This study analyses the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural production in South India by evaluating the influence of market channels and socioeconomic conditions on the production decisions of farmers during two key cropping seasons. The authors base our analysis on primary data from 200 marginal, small and medium farmers, primarily focusing on the key seasonal crops, namely paddy and black gram in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu. After the easing of lockdown measures in June 2020, their research revealed substantial disruptions in agricultural production during the critical Kharif and Rabi seasons.
Most farmers refrained from returning to their fields during the Kharif season; those who did, produced millet as the main crop. Factors such as choice of market channels in previous seasons, economic status, access to all-weather roads, labour availability, gender and coping strategies played an important role in the return to production in the subsequent Kharif and Rabi seasons. This study contributes to the literature on factors influencing farmer choice and decision-making and provides nuances to discussions by analyzing crop-specific supply chains, highlighting the critical role of socioeconomic factors. It also highlights the role of demographics and infrastructural factors like access to all-weather roads and access to markets that influence farmers’ production decisions.
Access the publication here.