Introduction
After China, India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. The market is dominated by vegetables taking a share of 65%, and the rest fruits. Indian companies concerned with this sector either own plantations and orchards of their own, buy produce from local farmers or even import exotic varieties and act as retailers.
The largest supplier of mango, banana and papaya in the world, Indian markets have a contribution of 1% from fruits and 2% from vegetables imported. Having one of the largest populations in the world, along with rapid urbanization and increasing number of trade formats and a general concern for a healthy lifestyle, the fruit and vegetable industry indeed has a lot of demand in India.
Initiatives of the Government and Corporate
Various imported varieties are becoming more and more popular, and this has encouraged retailers to promote different varieties, confident that people will take to them. However, around 50,000 crore rupees of product gets wasted on an annual basis. This can be attributed to various causes, like poor infrastructure, insufficient transportation and storage facilities, cold channels and poor harvest. Thus, there should be a joint effort from the part of both the retailers as well as the Government in order to integrate routes more effectively between farms and the market. Some private sector companies including but not limited to Pepsi and Reliance have already taken measures to try and minimize this gap.
Challenges faced in the sector
The sudden lockdown imposed on a national level affected this branch of the agricultural sector quite badly.
The initial hoarding of food items which did not perish easily resulted in the demand for vegetables like onions and potatoes rising considerably, which consequently affected the retail prices.
Inter-state boundaries were closed off, supply chains were broken throughout the country, and a lot of the produce was lost as it could not cross these borders.
The continued lockdown resulted in many migrant laborers returning to their native lands, and thus farmers lost a lot of their assistance, and this led to wastage of crops.
The fruits and vegetables sectors in India are primarily disorganized, with around 95% being sole owners, convenience stores or street vendors.
This informal chain was severely challenged by the pandemic, and this created a fragmented hassled supply chain in the nation. Social distancing has prevented most farmers and vendors from going to the markets, which have been classified as some of the most dangerous places to be in during this crisis. Places which are at most risk to viral contamination, those sellers who do not have all the formal papers face issues while big merchants avoid them, and this leads to a decrease in experienced and skilled man power for handling this sector.
Post-harvest losses stand at an estimated 30% in the country, due to delay in transportation and transactions and lack of sufficient preservation, which only keeps on increasing further as the pandemic continues. A considerable number of farmers had supplied regularly to hotels, restaurants, malls, and so on, which remained closed during this time, and thus they had no market for their produce, which all went to waste.
Labor-intensive orchards suffer the most out of lack of workforce to tend to them. Banana planted in over 4000 hectares and sweet lemon over 600 hectares got damaged as a consequence of this, Inevitably, as is with every other agricultural branch, farmers are forced to bear the burden of these losses, most of whom are not equipped to deal with them.
Solutions to revive the sector
Thus, serious support has to be given to this exquisite branch, some methods of which are listed below:
A logical sustainable investment is most necessary to save the rural economy which faces the risk of collapsing completely. Without financial assistance, they cannot be expected to bear this alone.
E-commerce should be focused on as a platform, with door deliveries encouraged with more attractive policies. Green corridors and freight rails should be set up and properly maintained, to promote a greater network for procuring and supplying produce.
One of the most important aspects that need to be focused on is the wholesome development of farmers. One of the ways to ensure this is by setting up mobile outlets which collect farm produce directly, ensuring a steady market for farmers. This also saves their time in finding retailers or customers.
Most farmers make ends meet by regularly borrowing money either from local money lenders or by taking loans from more official authorities. Since their crops are most likely affected by the prolonged state of Corona, they will suffer to pay them back as it is, let alone find the finances for the upcoming agricultural season. Thus, offering no interest or low interest loans to them will make the whole procedure much less taxing, and this should be an integral part of the packages set up for them.
Farmers should also be educated about the consequences of Corona, and how best to safeguard themselves from infection. Social distancing, use of masks and the need to regularly wash hands should be explicitly stated. This leads to fresh and uncontaminated farm produce, along with promoting farmer safety. Seed and pesticide stores can play a pivotal role in this realization.
District-level helplines should be established so as to provide assistance and assurance to farmers from the very basic level. This can resolve issues related to both transport as well as selling of produce.
For the smooth functioning of this sector, even the smallest unit should be allowed to perform. However, they should keep in mind the pandemic and the severe threat it poses to humanity, and do their best to maintain all necessary precautions for their customers’ safety as well as their own.
The main cause for most of the crops going to waste was the lack of cold storage units and proper preservation facilities for most rural farmers.
The production and supply of fruits will be affected once the aftermath of the pandemic sets in, as it is from the profits of one season that farmers can at least partially fund the next. Thus, policies should integrate their interests most sincerely.
A more transparent and widely distributed network should be established for the supply of fruits.
One of the hit avenues would be the imported fruits and vegetables, and they will continue to suffer for a long time owing to transport restrictions. Retailers are advised to deal primarily with produce from within the country and not rely as much on foreign products, till this issue has been dealt with satisfactorily.
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