April 2020, South Asia
Crisis Management through agile Intervention – Helping Pineapple Growers in Kerala
Philipgi T Kanatt and Jony Jos

A social experiment by Extension Officers of the Kerala State Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare changed the fate of pineapple farmers who were bracing for a huge financial loss arising from the COVID-19-imposed lockdown in the State. In this Field Note, Philipgi T Kanatt and Jony Jos narrate how this small pilot was conceived and implemented, and how it got upscaled across the State.

Amidst the New Year celebrations of 2020 news flashes on Corona virus at Wuhan, China, started trickling in. It snowballed into a pandemic at a rapid pace, forcing governments to declare lockdowns. Normal life and activities in Kerala came to an abrupt stand still from 21 March 2020. Farmers became panic-stricken as it coincided with the main harvest season of paddy, vegetables and fruits. Farmers work long and hard to finally reach harvest time, which is the culmination of all their farming activities. These activities were planned and executed well ahead of the lockdown, and long before the emergence of COVID-19. Crops require a long gestation period from seed to harvest. As such the impact of the sudden lockdown left the farmers thunderstruck.