April 2020, South Asia
COVID-19 lockdown sparks harvest crises in Pakistan, India
Aamir Latif and Shuriah Niazi    

In absence of labor, transport, fear of pandemic, farmers staring at disaster, as nations head for possible food shortage

Trees have bent, bearing the load of ripened summer fruits and a bumper crop of wheat in a golden hue is ready for harvest in the fields, spread across the plains of Pakistan and India.

But in the absence of labor and means of transportation due to lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19 or coronavirus, millions of farmers are staring at another disaster, watching their produce rotting in their fields. The harvest of famed fruit of the region mango is also just a month away. Experts believe that the phenomenon will have cascading effects on the region’s food security.

Ahmad Ali, a farmer from Pakistan’s northeastern Punjab province, is running from pillar to post to arrange labor for the harvesting of wheat, which in his area is set to commence next week. He is one of the thousands of farmers, desperately looking for labor to harvest wheat, mainly in Punjab, and southern Sindh, the two bread-baskets for Pakistan.