Managing agricultural supply chains in COVID-19 lockdown

Abstract

Alongside many other countries around the world, India has fought voraciously against the coronavirus pandemic 2019 (COVID-19). Of particular interest in this paper is the agriculture supply chains in India, where the harvesting period of rabi crops coincides with the COVID-19 outbreak. The fruitful harvest during the pandemic has caused many states in India to face unprecedented challenges in reaping and post-reaping tasks of harvest in agriculture supply chains. Customarily, harvesting utilises transient work from different locations in India, yet during the lockdown, many workers in the agriculture industry have relocated back to their hometowns, thereby leading to labour shortage and halting harvesting activities during the pandemic. Besides the shortage of labour, this paper also identifies pertinent challenges relating to climate change, occupational health and safety, pricing and revenue and transportation. The legislature is a significant stakeholder that needs to proactively devise frameworks to overcome agriculture supply chain challenges, with suggestions for agriculture supply chain management during global pandemics offered herein.