COVID-19 Induced Lockdown How is the Hinterland Coping? A study by - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

COVID-19 Induced Lockdown – How is the Hinterland Coping?

A study by a group of socially concerned citizens to understand the impact of COVID19 lockdown on rural households.

Based on Crowdsourced Data

Crowdsourcing data and translating questionnaire – Contributors

Abdul Ahad Falahi Dharmendra Chandurkar Mathi Rathnam Pradeep Siby Munnar Ahmad Kabeer Dou Simte Megha Rao Pradnya Dhote Sini Rakesh Amal Roy Emlon Tirkey Mahboob Pranadh P Smitha Maria Thomas Amit Tandon Evita Das Mithun Louis Prathibha Ganesan Sowmya B Amrit Kaur Geetha K Wilson Mizanur Rahman Pratiksha Khanduri Sreejith Ananthalakshmi CS Gopal Krishnan Mohammad Abdul Raghu M Sridhar A Annu Anna Kuruvila Gururaja Rao V Mohon Satra Rahul K Jose Sriram A Anoop Sivan Herison Fernandez Mrityunjay Basak Rahul Puthenveedan Sumagna Bhowmik Aparna Unni Jay Dongare Mundhir Mambra Rajaneesh P Sumeetha Ayyappan Arai Verahu Therie Jeffrey Immanuel Nachi Raja Rajeswari K Sushma Prabhu Aravindhan Nagarajan Jiju Puthenveetil Narayani CS Rakesh PC Tarika Narula Arun Murali Jisna Jose Kaippinkil Navneet Anand Ranjini Basu Vaishali Kashyap Ashlesha G KA Shaji Neelam Rana Fernandez Rohan D. Chavan Vandana Singh Benoy Mazumdar Kapil Agarwal Nevin Thomas Rose Scaria Vasantha Rao Bhavya Thrissiva Karthikeyan R Nidhi Bansal Rutuja Sabane Veena Maruthoor Bindu Kori Rao Kavi Kumar Nilabh Kumar Sampat Kale Venkatesh B Bornali Borah Krishna Priya Nimmy Rose Joseph Samrat Kasbe Venkiteswaran C.S Charmaine Lakshmi Narasimha Kumar Nipin P Sanju Soman Vidur Shresth Chichuan Naik Lakshmi Vinukonda Nirmalya Choudhury Satyanand Mukund Vijayendra Kadlabal Christie Maria James Lekshmi M Nithin Chavan Sayanti Sengupta Vineetha Venugopal Deachen Spalzes Madhuri Mondal P.V. Venugopal Sharon WG Vivek Coelho Deep Adhvaryu Mangesh Kshirsagar Phulmani Daimary Baro Sheeba Rajasekharan VVS Rao Dev NC Manoj K Poonam Argade Shivakumar

and many others…

Objective of the study

• A rapid assessment of the effect of the COVID-19 induced lockdown on the

rural households.

• What are the various coping mechanisms undertaken by the rural

households?

• Assessment focused on:
• Food security,
• Change in expenditure pattern,
• Readiness for the forthcoming Kharif season,
• Drudgery faced by the women in the household,
• Asset sales etc.

Approach to the study

• Given the extraordinary situation we are in, the sampling strategy followed

was guided by factors like Spread, Speed and Simplicity.

• Spread – A wide geographical coverage.
• Speed – Had to be completed within a time frame – effects could change
• ver time making pooling of data difficult.
• Simplicity – telephonic interview – also the interview had to be kept short –

we used free and open access tool (KoboToolbox) – closed ended responses – covering only must ask questions – a dipstick study.

Geographical spread

• 542 Households, 18 States, 90 Districts, 176 Talukas, 262 Villages
• Data collection took place between 26th April and 5th May 2020

States/UTs Num of Districts Maharashtra 22 Tamil Nadu 14 Assam 5 Kerala 12 West Bengal 3 Bihar 7 Odisha 3 Punjab 7 Nagaland 3 Others 14 Total 90

192 72 68 63 41 39 21 15 12 18

50 100 150 200 250

Number of Households

Key attributes of surveyed households

• 88% of households reported having migrant members, but few households (23%) migrants have returned.
• More than a one-third of the surveyed households reported dependent members (young children, bedridden,

persons with disability, senior citizens, pregnant women, lactating mother).

23 34 38

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

HHs where migrant members have returned (n = 479) HHs with lactating/pregnant women/children below 6 years (n = 538) HHs with senior citizens/persons with disability/bedridden patients (n = 534) % of households

Workload within the household

• Already an increase in drudgery among the women members in the households with returnee migrants.
• Only few households have returnee migrants – significant chunk are now returning/ will return

35 30 64 35 16 17 31 19

10 20 30 40 50 60 70

More trips to fetch water More time to fetch water Increase in demand for fuel/fuelwood More time in collecting fuelwood % of Households

HHs with migrant members = 479

HHs with migrant members returned HH with migrant members not returned

Existing food stock is depleting fast

• More people depended on Kharif 2019 for their food grain requirements than the Rabi 2019-2020.
• Kharif food stock is depleting fast
• 1/5th already used up their stock, 1/3rd would deplete stock by June 2020.
• Migrants are yet to return in most families – once they come – more pressure to the already depleting stock.
• Focus on increased food provision through PDS and cultivating food crop in Kharif 2020.

21 10 13 9 7 5 3 2 1 3

5 10 15 20 25

No Surplus Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20 Nov-20 Dec-20 % of Households

Kharif Stock will last till

55 39 44 59

10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Depended on Food Grains Stocked from Kharif Last Year (n = 487) Have some food from Rabi (n = 464)

% of Households Yes No

Preparedness for Kharif 2020 is low

• A quarter of the surveyed households have seeds for the upcoming Kharif.
• Less than 1/5th have Kisan Credit Card.
• Less than half of the respondents were of the view that they would get crop loans.
• Make provision of seeds and credit for the upcoming Kharif season – put money in the hand of the people.

45 16 23 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Will get crop loans (n = 424) Have Kisan Credit Card (n = 483) Have seeds for Kharif (n = 445) % of households

Reduced income from dairy and poultry

• Rumors first and then lockdown have adversely affected the income from dairy and poultry.
• Almost 50% of surveyed households sold milk – 58% of them have reported a reduction in sales.
• More than 57% of surveyed households are into poultry – 60% of them reported reduction in sales.

58 60 10 20 30 40 50 60 Reduction in milk sales (n = 268) Reduction in poultry sales (n = 309) % of Households

Coping: Immediate adjustments for food security

• More than 2/3rd of the households are eating fewer items and 40% have reduced the number of meals.
• Nearly 1/3rd households are borrowing food grains from others in the village.
• PDS working for the majority – 81% received food through PDS.

78 46 81 16 30 40 66

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Depending on village market for food (n = 538) Received Take Home Ration (THR) (n = 183) Received food items through the PDS (n = 520) People in the village gave free food (n = 485) Borrowed food grains in village (n = 534) Reduction in the number of meals (n = 537) Reduction in the number of items (n = 537) % of households

Coping: Postponing of discretionary expenses taking place

• Nearly 1/5th of respondents in households shared that its possible that children might dropout.
• Postponement of ceremony and downscaling of ceremonies is high.
• Nearly half of the respondents postponed purchase of agricultural tools.

18 47 38 47

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Children Dropout possibility (n = 425) Postpone Ceremony (n = 377) Cut Down Guest List (n = 320) Postpone Agri Tool Purchase (n = 379) % of households

Coping: Borrowing/Mortgaging/Selling of assets is taking place

• More than 1/4th of the families depended on family networks for borrowing.
• Borrowing from moneylender also reported for more than one fifth of the surveyed households.
• Mortgage of household items has started.
• More than a quarter have sold liquid assets like livestock.

26 17 26 21

5 10 15 20 25 30

Sold goat/sheep/duck/hen to arrange money (n = 488) Mortgaged household items (n = 538) Borrowed from extended family at 0% (n = 539) Borrowed from money lender (n = 535) % of households

Coping: Sale of productive assets has started

• Has implication on the long term economic base of the households.
• Expected to happen when a shock/stress has a prolonged/intense effect.
• More than 1/5th respondents already sold dry cattle
• 13% have mortgaged the land, close to 10% have sold in-milk cattle
• Land sale has started though low

4 22 9 13 4

5 10 15 20 25

Sold Agri Tool (n = 398) Sold Dry Cattle (n = 386) Sold In-Milk Cattle (n = 385) Mortgage Land (n = 450) Sold Land (n = 450) % of Households

Summary (1/2)

• Households have depended on Kharif stock more than Rabi – but that stock is

now depleting.

• Households are coping with the shock by eating less food and lesser number
• f times and with large dependence on PDS.
• Need for increased food support through PDS and promotion for food crop

cultivation in Kharif.

• But preparedness for Kharif 2020 is low – need for public support in terms of

seed provision and credit for Kharif 2020.

• Large chunk of migrants are yet to return – but already the increased workload

within household enhances the drudgery faced by the women.

Summary (2/2)

• Lockdown and rumors have indeed adversely affected income from dairy

and poultry.

• Coping mechanisms mostly clustered around change in food habits and

reduction in expenditures

• Borrowing is taking place – indebtedness might increase if the effect of

shock prevails.

• Asset sales have started.
• We only got a snapshot – if we are able to resurvey the same households

after couple of months we can see how the proportions are changing – that will give us a better idea on the effect and how people are changing their coping strategy over time.

We once again thank you for all your help in collecting the data. In these extraordinary times, without your help we would not have been able to collect the data. We plan to make the dataset public in due course of time. The analysis that you saw was basic aggregative descriptive analysis. We plan to analyze the dataset more in the coming days and aspire that this study can translate to positive action on ground, to improve the situation of lives in rural India. It is all of ours presentation. All of us are owners of this presentation. Hence please share this presentation as widely as possible in your respective networks. For any suggestions, doubts or complaints, please email us at covid19ruralresearch@gmail.com. Once again THANK YOU.