THE FARM TO FORK CRISIS

India has surplus agri produce this season. But fractured supply chain has hit harvesting, storing, transporting and selling. Here is how it is being worked upon

- JOE C. MATHEW

ROADBLOCKS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

PROBLEM: Harvester and labour scarcity

SOLUTION: Limited relaxation of lockdown in farm sector

PROBLEM: Logistics bottlenecks

SOLUTION: Facilitate truck movement at every level of administration

PROBLEM: Limited operations in mandis

SOLUTION: Permission to private entities to directly buy produce

PROBLEM: Payment issues

SOLUTION: Assistance in availing credit for agriculture equipment, seeds, etc, for kharif sowing

An average Indian consumer may not have faced any shortage of essential food items during the 21-day lockdown but a supply chain crisis is brewing in the Indian agriculture sector. Harvested food grains such as wheat have been stuck in fields in several states, and food grain aggregators, processors and branded processed food sellers are all facing problems in sourcing fresh stock.