Agricultural labor, COVID-19, and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of India
To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, India imposed a national lockdown at the end of March 2020, a decision that resulted in a massive reverse migration as many workers across economic sectors returned to their home regions. Migrants provide the foundations of the agricultural workforce in the ‘breadba...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Elsevier
2020
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109999 |
| _version_ | 1855516983306485760 |
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| author | Singh, Balwinder Shirsath, Paresh Bhaskar Jat, Mangi Lal McDonald, Andrew J. Srivastava, Amit Craufurd, Peter Q. Rana, Dharamvir Singh Singh, Anil K Chaudhari, Suresh K Sharma, Parbodh Chander Singh, Rajbir P Jat, Hanuman Sahay Sidhu, Harminder S. Gerard, Bruno G. Braun, Hans-Joachim |
| author_browse | Braun, Hans-Joachim Chaudhari, Suresh K Craufurd, Peter Q. Gerard, Bruno G. Jat, Hanuman Sahay Jat, Mangi Lal McDonald, Andrew J. Rana, Dharamvir Singh Sharma, Parbodh Chander Shirsath, Paresh Bhaskar Sidhu, Harminder S. Singh, Anil K Singh, Balwinder Singh, Rajbir P Srivastava, Amit |
| author_facet | Singh, Balwinder Shirsath, Paresh Bhaskar Jat, Mangi Lal McDonald, Andrew J. Srivastava, Amit Craufurd, Peter Q. Rana, Dharamvir Singh Singh, Anil K Chaudhari, Suresh K Sharma, Parbodh Chander Singh, Rajbir P Jat, Hanuman Sahay Sidhu, Harminder S. Gerard, Bruno G. Braun, Hans-Joachim |
| author_sort | Singh, Balwinder |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, India imposed a national lockdown at the end of March 2020, a decision that resulted in a massive reverse migration as many workers across economic sectors returned to their home regions. Migrants provide the foundations of the agricultural workforce in the ‘breadbasket’ states of Punjab and Haryana in Northwest India.There are mounting concerns that near and potentially longer-term reductions in labor availability may jeopardize agricultural production and consequently national food security. The timing of rice transplanting at the beginning of the summer monsoon season has a cascading influence on productivity of the entire rice-wheat cropping system. To assess the potential for COVID-related reductions in the agriculture workforce to disrupt production of the dominant rice-wheat cropping pattern in these states, we use a spatial ex ante modelling framework to evaluate four scenarios representing a range of plausible labor constraints on the timing of rice transplanting. Averaged over both states, results suggest that rice productivity losses under all delay scenarios would be low as compare to those for wheat, with total system productivity loss estimates ranging from 9%, to 21%, equivalent to economic losses of USD $674 m to $1.48 billion. Late rice transplanting and harvesting can also aggravate winter air pollution with concomitant health risks. Technological options such as direct seeded rice, staggered nursery transplanting, and crop diversification away from rice can help address these challenges but require new approaches to policy and incentives for change. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace109999 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publishDateRange | 2020 |
| publishDateSort | 2020 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1099992024-05-01T08:15:25Z Agricultural labor, COVID-19, and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of India Singh, Balwinder Shirsath, Paresh Bhaskar Jat, Mangi Lal McDonald, Andrew J. Srivastava, Amit Craufurd, Peter Q. Rana, Dharamvir Singh Singh, Anil K Chaudhari, Suresh K Sharma, Parbodh Chander Singh, Rajbir P Jat, Hanuman Sahay Sidhu, Harminder S. Gerard, Bruno G. Braun, Hans-Joachim food security climate change agriculture covid-19 To contain the COVID-19 pandemic, India imposed a national lockdown at the end of March 2020, a decision that resulted in a massive reverse migration as many workers across economic sectors returned to their home regions. Migrants provide the foundations of the agricultural workforce in the ‘breadbasket’ states of Punjab and Haryana in Northwest India.There are mounting concerns that near and potentially longer-term reductions in labor availability may jeopardize agricultural production and consequently national food security. The timing of rice transplanting at the beginning of the summer monsoon season has a cascading influence on productivity of the entire rice-wheat cropping system. To assess the potential for COVID-related reductions in the agriculture workforce to disrupt production of the dominant rice-wheat cropping pattern in these states, we use a spatial ex ante modelling framework to evaluate four scenarios representing a range of plausible labor constraints on the timing of rice transplanting. Averaged over both states, results suggest that rice productivity losses under all delay scenarios would be low as compare to those for wheat, with total system productivity loss estimates ranging from 9%, to 21%, equivalent to economic losses of USD $674 m to $1.48 billion. Late rice transplanting and harvesting can also aggravate winter air pollution with concomitant health risks. Technological options such as direct seeded rice, staggered nursery transplanting, and crop diversification away from rice can help address these challenges but require new approaches to policy and incentives for change. 2020-11 2020-10-27T23:13:14Z 2020-10-27T23:13:14Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109999 en Open Access Elsevier Singh B, Shirsath PB, Jat ML, McDonal AJ, Srivastava A, Craufurd P, Rana DS, Singh AK, Chaudhari SK, Sharma PC, Singh R, Jat HS, Sidhu HS, Gerard B, Braun H. 2020. Agricultural labor, COVID-19, and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of India. Agricultural Systems 185:102954. |
| spellingShingle | food security climate change agriculture covid-19 Singh, Balwinder Shirsath, Paresh Bhaskar Jat, Mangi Lal McDonald, Andrew J. Srivastava, Amit Craufurd, Peter Q. Rana, Dharamvir Singh Singh, Anil K Chaudhari, Suresh K Sharma, Parbodh Chander Singh, Rajbir P Jat, Hanuman Sahay Sidhu, Harminder S. Gerard, Bruno G. Braun, Hans-Joachim Agricultural labor, COVID-19, and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of India |
| title | Agricultural labor, COVID-19, and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of India |
| title_full | Agricultural labor, COVID-19, and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of India |
| title_fullStr | Agricultural labor, COVID-19, and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of India |
| title_full_unstemmed | Agricultural labor, COVID-19, and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of India |
| title_short | Agricultural labor, COVID-19, and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of India |
| title_sort | agricultural labor covid 19 and potential implications for food security and air quality in the breadbasket of india |
| topic | food security climate change agriculture covid-19 |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/109999 |
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