THE agriculture sector is facing one of its biggest crises. On one hand, erratic weather and the resultant untimely heavy rains and hailstorms, coupled with the locust attack, are making it hard for farmers to sleep at night. On the other hand, the lockdown since mid-March has created many challenges and negatively impacted the rural population in general and small farm holders in particular.

The prolonged shutdown across the country has not only reduced on-farms activities but also disturbed the transport and sale of crops, vegetables and fruits, as well as the purchase of farm inputs.

Livestock, the most important sub-sector which contributes around 60 per cent of agriculture’s share to GDP, is the major victim of the Covid-19 outbreak. To meet their day-to-day expenses, small farmers rear milch cattle and sell the milk. Closure of tea-stalls, sweets shops and the reduced timing for milk shops under the lockdown’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) shrank demand for this highly perishable commodity and thus cut its rates.

Salahuddin, a smallholder farmer from Narang Mandi town near Lahore, says he gets 72 litres of milk from his nine buffaloes. Before the lockdown, the milkman would give him Rs80 per litre but now is not willing to buy at even Rs50 per litre citing hurdles in the onward sale because of virus issues. Likewise, owner of a known sweet shop in Mian Channu (Khanewal) has his own dairy farm but since he is disallowed to open his business because of the lockdown, he is forced to sell milk at Rs40 per litre in the town, says Pakistan Kissan Ittehad general secretary Mian Umair, who belongs to the area.

Some dairy farmers are turning towards value addition in the form of mozzarella cheese and ghee to prolong milk’s shelf life rather than sell it at throwaway prices

Initially suffering at the hands of the milkman, Mr Salahuddin is now trying to find a solution through value addition: he is preparing (mozzarella quality) cheese and trying to sell it online. Even if he doesn’t manage to find buyers, this will enhance the shelf life of the milk. Similarly, some dairy farmers are making desi ghee out of milk instead of selling the commodity at throwaway prices.

Closure of hotels and the ban on weddings and parties is also hurting the once thriving poultry sector. Vegetables are also being sold at low rates in the wholesale market though end consumers are not benefitting from the low prices as the middlemen are making a killer profit.

“The first month of the lockdown was particularly difficult for farmers as delinked from the markets, they had to sell their dairy and farm products at throwaway prices,” says Farooq Tariq, general secretary of Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee, a representative of smallholder farmers. “Those engaged in producing horticulture, floriculture and dairy farming were shattered with the losses for being forced to market their commodities at whatever rate offered in the local bazaar.”

Hanf Hanjra, a horticulturist from Sargodha, says previously he earned a good living during the wedding and Ramazan seasons by dispatching his produce to big markets like Lahore and Gujranwala. “However, this time I’m hardly able to meet my expenses because I’m forced to sell my farm produce in the local market at much lower rates as either transport to far-off markets is not available or its charges are unaffordable.” He claims he could not once cover transport charges even for the Sargodha market where his four maunds (around 160kg) of coriander was sold for just Rs70 in wholesale.

Unfortunately, the harvesting season of wheat, politically the most important crop, has also fallen in this time of social distancing. The already scarce manual labour has been further reduced because of mobility issues in the wake of the pandemic. And this gap in demand and supply has pushed up wages of available farmworkers.

“Labour is costlier this year as workers face problems crossing police check-posts erected to curtail the movement of people,” says Mian Umair. Previously, he would pay 160kg per acre of wheat to a worker for reaping his crop and now this rate has gone up to 210kg per acre. Facing issues trying to convince the mostly illiterate labour force to observe social distancing rules, he says he had to hire manpower from as far as Kasur district, more than 200km away from Mian Channu.

The farming sector was also hit because of difficulties in obtaining inputs and the shutdown of agriculture-engineering and allied industries. Though the government has permitted auto workshops to function when the wheat harvesting season sets in, the decision to allow shops of lath machines, spare parts, etc came a bit late in the day and farmers could not get their tractors, tube-wells and allied machines repaired in time. There were also difficulties in procuring medicine for cattle, bemoans Mr Salah.

Mr Tariq regrets that small farmers, one of the hardest-hit class by the lockdown, are not being considered for compensation by the government. He fears that this will lead to the compounding of rural poverty, disabling particularly the landless farmers from the purchase of seed and other farm inputs for the next crop.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, May 11th , 2020