New Delhi: Humanity is under siege by a deadly virus “SARS-CoV-2”. More than the virus, its disease COVID-19 has gained notoriety in almost all vernaculars of the world. As economies plummet, paranoia reigns through our streets and media. Sneezing and coughing has become a reprehensible act in these times of coronavirus.
The Indian government, like other governments and World Health Organization are trying very hard to contain this global pandemic. But the threat surrounds us. A world power like China has fallen prey to this disease, Iran is being ravaged by it, and it’s only matter of days before the COVID-19 hits SAARC nations and India with its full might.
Ahead of the curve, black markets are already trading new commodities – masks, soaps, disinfectants. People are hoarding supplies as the world moves closer to apparent rapture delivered to us by this virus.
Fear of COVID-19 has taken over India and the world. The fear, today presents a greater threat to the world than the corona virus itself. Very soon black markets will hoard essential medicines, foods, etc and as the desperation level and death toll rise, the agrarian sector and seeds will be used as devoured by the COVID-19 crisis too.
Agriculture is the backbone of our survival and most of our agriculture today depends on quality seeds and the organized seed sector globally. Our food production are also dependent on availability of human resources or farm labour and free movement of agricultural products – including seeds, fertilizers, etc.
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Both of which are restricted at this time. The US has shut her border followed by European Union and now world is cancelling visas and restricting movement of people. Even within the countries, people are scared to venture out and are especially avoiding crowded places. From Vietnam to Italy, schools are closed and streets are deserted.
The current environment only heralds decreased availability of farm hands. There will be a rise in farm wages for this season and we may see the cost of production of foods rising.
The threat is even greater in the poultry sector, as prices of chicken in Delhi have also nosedived. The farm workers will be more reluctant to work on poultry farms are the fear psychosis grows.
The global seed sector is deeply dependent on a global supply chain of production regions and no one country is seed sovereign by itself. The freezing of ports and seeds shipments will derail agricultural productivity later this year.
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World over, March and April are very important time for planting spring crops such as maize, sunflower, soybean, canola, spring wheat and barley, open field vegetables, etc north of the equator and autumn crops to the south.
In India too, we will see the sowing of Zaid season crops soon. If farmers are delayed or miss this window because late delivery of seeds or no seeds at all, we are possibly looking at a serious food and feed shortages and food price inflations later this year.
Although in a recent statement the International Seed Federation (ISF) cited the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR), saying that “there is currently no evidence that food including seed is a likely source or route of transmission of the virus. Transmission via surfaces which have recently been contaminated with the virus is, nonetheless, possible through smear infections.
However, this is only likely to occur during a short period after contamination, due to the relatively low stability of coronavirus in the environment.” What this means is that there is no evidence and seeds may not be a gateway, so we have little to worry about.
“Fear only fear itself”
These are tough times, and call for courage and truth. We need to make informed and scientific evidence based decisions so COVID-19 doesn’t evolve into another monster which threats not just our health but also our agriculture. Indian government and other governments of the world should not impose any restrictions on agrarian products, including seeds.
Seeds companies and exporters should take responsibility for the health and safety of workers involved in the shipments. Port authorities have strenuous months ahead due to massive work of screening out shipments and people, and they should be aided in this. The virus spreads from person to person, so latest WHO directives should be broadcasted and people and workers need to made aware of them.
Seeds shipments anyways have a very low risk of spreading the viruses and hence should not be stopped or delayed. The world must come together in this time of crisis, and fight not only the corona virus but fear itself.
