May 2020, South Asia
Impact of COVID-19 on Farmers Livelihood in Khordha district, Odisha
Dr. P. N. Ananth and Dr. B. R. Pillai 

Rapid assessment of the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on farmers in Khordha District helped in identifying the nature and extent of losses faced by farmers in different crop and enterprises. Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and ICAR institutes conducting this type of quick analysis will help every organisation in identifying strategies to support farmers in each district during the lockdown, and also in refining their plans for the next season, Dr P N Ananth and Dr B R Pillai argue in this blog.

That Odisha has shown how to live up to the challenge of frequent disasters that visit the state in the form of cyclones, floods, dry spells, erratic rainfalls, delayed monsoons and many others. The people of Odisha and the government have been highly accustomed (in comparison to any other state of India) to face and cope with climate extremes. The year 2019 was a bad start for Odisha with the cyclone Fani that hit the state on 3 May, 2019, making life miserable for the people, especially farmers in 14 districts of the state. It took four months to return to normalcy. But within less than a year, in February 2020, COVID-19 began to spread in the state.