COVID‐19 and Farm Management in India: Evidence From the Rural–Urban Interface of Bangalore

ABSTRACT We examine farm management decisions of smallholder farmers during the first wave of COVID‐19 infections in India between June 2020 and March 2021. We use panel data from 256 farm households in the rural–urban interface of Bangalore from a pre‐COVID‐19 face‐to‐face survey and a phone survey at the end of the first COVID‐19 wave. We combine this survey data with sub‐district and village level data on the number of COVID‐19 infections as well as rainfall data. Results of fixed effects panel data models show that higher COVID‐19 exposure, measured by numbers of sub‐district and village level COVID‐19 infections, positively affects the number of sustainable agricultural practices adopted. Conversely, higher COVID‐19 exposure is related to a reduction in the share of crops treated with external inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. The results suggest that disruptions related to COVID‐19 exposure levels restricted farmers' access to agricultural inputs, prompting a shift towards sustainable agricultural practices.