The coronavirus pandemic apart from the widespread deaths and health hazards have also devastated the economies around the world. From India to the USA to the European Union everyone has been feeling the effects. For India, it may be the first time that the GDP may contract since 1979-80.
However, a major difference between 1979 and 2020 has been agriculture as the sector contracted by 12 % in 1979 it is expected to grow at more than 5% in the quarter.
This will spell good news especially for the Indian farmers who were worried about the difficulties they would face in sleeping their crops due to the restrictions imposed during the lockdown.
Experts have stated that when the lockdown was imposed across the country, most of the harvesting was completed or was in its final stages. Though states like Haryana and Punjab suffered as agriculture in these states was heavily dependent on migrant farmers many states completed their harvesting often with the help of family labour.
The government then stepped up and began acquiring foodgrains and posted record acquisition as they looked to avoid even a slight chance of food shortage. The wheat procurement stood at 382 lakh metric tonnes which beat the previous record of 381.48 lakh metric tonnes set in 2012-13. While the demand for oilseeds has decreased but with The Malaysia India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (MICECA) coming to an end which ends the Southeast Asian nation hegemony, local produce will certainly get a benefit.
These figures are still estimates and the actual figures could still vary a little but it should be used as an opportunity to further adopt technological innovations and heavy investment in the sector. The present situation makes one wonder that if the Agriculture sector can manage a positive growth after facing so many hurdles what figures it could post without these troubles.
