Effect of COVID-19 on small vegetable growers of Punjab: An economic analysis

Food reaches the consumer's plate through supply chains, but COVID-19 significantly disrupted these chains. Vegetables are highly perishable crops and the impact on their supply chains led to huge losses for growers. This study was conducted on small vegetable growers of Malerkotla, a major vegetable hub of Punjab. Primary data was collected by interviewing 120 farmers and 30 market intermediaries. The sample selection was based on multistage simple random sampling. About 25 per cent of vegetable growers across all crop rotations reduced or stopped cultivating one or more crops in 2020-21. The human labour costs were lower for both cucumber and capsicum due to peak harvest season during COVID-19, however the impact was mitigated by the involvement of family labour. The study reveals that the major vegetables such as cauliflower, cucumber, capsicum, bittergourd and brinjal caused farmers to suffer huge losses. The returns from all these vegetables were lower than in the previous year. Comparatively, capsicum growing farmers suffered extreme losses, with returns of only Rs. 4,690. The quantity of produce arriving at the market decreased from 1,685 quintals in 2019 which reduced to 1,203 quintals in 2020 mainly, due to restrictions on transportation. Farmers received lower prices or were unable sale at all. There is a need to build resilient local supply chain networks.