Giving hope to hard hit farmers
In the rural areas of India, there are almost about 120 million smallholder farmers who contribute over 40% of the country’s grain production. The livelihood of these smallholder farmers completely depends on their harvesting. Every year farmers face different types of risk such as low rainfall, price volatility and rising debts. But the risks from the COVID-19 pandemic have created new challenges. The nationwide lockdown came at an unfortunate time for farmers, as it was the harvest season for the rabi (winter) crop. This season the farmers in the rural areas could not harvest their bumper crops - cereal and oilseed. In some places, the crops have been abandoned, while in others the harvest is coming more than a month late, along with limited and more expensive labor. In these challenging times, when regular transport and markets have not been functioning, GeBBS Foundation came forward to directly help the farmers in the rural areas of Aurangabad and Jalna. They along ...