July 2020, South Asia 
Lockdown-hit farmers begin to sow summer crops in South Asia
Soumya Sarkar, Xari Jalil, Abu Siddique and Ramesh Bhushal

Even as Covid-19 spreads like wildfire across South Asia, farmers are planting the summer crop despite grappling with higher input costs, labour issues and the threat of floods.

The southwest monsoon has arrived in most parts of South Asia and farmers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal have started planting the summer crop. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the already distressed agriculture sector in these countries in different ways, and the stakes couldn’t be higher for farmers in this cropping season.

Covid-19 has already afflicted more than a million people in the four countries, with infections rising fast in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, latest data shows. South Asia has taken a beating from the lockdowns imposed to curb the spread of the virus, and with growth shrinking in the industrial and services sectors, hope is now pinned on adequate monsoon rainfall and farmers gathering a good harvest to breathe life back into the battered economies.