The Effect of COVID-19 on Farmers in India

Since early 2020, the Covid-19 virus has caused more than 1 million deaths and overwhelmed health systems around the world. It has been especially harmful for developing countries which is expected to see a sharp increase in rates of poverty.

This project will offer new insights into the effect of Covid-19 on the mental health and agricultural outcomes of farmers in India.

We will focus on the impact of Covid-19 on:  i) agricultural production including agricultural and income expectations and aspirations and changes in agriculture income and inputs and ii) farmers mental health and wellbeing.

Despite the growing amount of research on the effects of Covid-19 the majority focuses on developed countries, there is almost no research on the effects of Covid-19 on farmers especially related to mental health and direct agricultural outcomes using large datasets.

This project will use a unique state representative dataset from the Indian state of Odisha, collected both before and (with funding) post Covid-19 including 20 months after the onset of the pandemic.

By investigating these questions, we not only hope to understand the shorter and more longer-term effects of pandemics on mental health and agricultural outcomes, but we hope to identify ways in which these issues can be mitigated in future crises.

Understanding and addressing these issues will be key to preventing the risk of long-term repercussion on the population’s wellbeing and rate of poverty in the future.