Economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dairy farmers of Karnataka

The novel corona virus (COVID-19) which was first identified on November 17, 2019 in Wuhan city of China turned out to be a pandemic. As a preventive measure against the pandemic, the Government of India announced nationwide lockdown on 24 March, 2020 which continued till 31 May, 2020. This not only limited the movement of people across the country but also led to the implementation of the policies like quarantines, containment zones, social distancing, travel restrictions etc. These polices have affected every sector of the Indian economy including the dairy sector. Against this backdrop, the present study was undertaken to assess the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic on dairy farmers. The study covered pre-lockdown, lockdown and post-lockdown phases up to December 2020. The data was collected from 200 dairy farmers across Bengaluru Rural and Chikkaballapura districts of Karnataka state. A large majority of the farmers from Bengaluru Rural (81%) and Chikkaballapura (87%) districts reported loss in their income from dairying during lockdown and post-lockdown periods. In both the districts the crossbred cattle were dominant (90%). In Bengaluru Rural district, the net return per litre of milk of crossbred was reduced to the extent of 33.06% during lockdown and by 48.64% during post-lockdown as compared to pre-lockdown period. In Chikkaballapura district, the net return per litre of milk of crossbred was reduced to the extent of 20.90% during lockdown and by 22.77% during post-lockdown as compared to pre-lockdown period. The loss in net return was attributed to reduction in procurement prices of milk, increased feed cost and decline in milk yield in that order respectively.