COVID-19 pandemic has not just hit higher businesses or production sectors, but it has also badly impacted farmers of the country, the backbone of the Indian economy.
While the country is under lockdown, the farm cattles are being treated to strawberries and broccoli. This is due to the reason that farmers are struggling to transport these crops to the cities amid three week lockdown.
With farm supply chain in disarray, farmers are not able to take the goods to villages.
The sudden drop in demand is hurting millions of farmers in the world’s second-most populous country, with corona virus cases surging to more than 1,900 in India and death toll rising to 50.
The main buyers of strawberries are tourists and ice-cream producers, but with no tourist and ice-cream parlours locked up, the farmers won’t be having any sale even when the lockdown gets lifted.
There have been incidents, where the farmers are dumping grapes near Bengaluru which they have produced after months of toil and spending as much as 5 lakh rupees.
Indian grapes are also exported to Europe, which has sharply cut purchases in the past few weeks as the virus takes a heavy toll there, said Dyanesh Ugle of Sahyadri Farms, the country’s biggest grape exporter.
Growers of expensive flowers such as Gerbera, Gladioli and Bird of Paradise, meanwhile, are worried, after weddings that typically generate the bulk of demand, have been cancelled.
