I salute my mother, a single parent and female farmer, struggling to ensure that her produce is cut, stored and delivered in time. The effort to combat COVID-19 relies in the timely availability of basic necessities to the masses. With little or no help coupled with unseasonal rains in parts of the country, brave farmers are working round the clock to ensure food gets to us.

Prolonged underinvestment, a lack of regional specific impact measurement of, and till date a general negligence of government schemes designed to uplift the incomes of farmers across the country has left India's agricultural sector underperforming and fragmented with in state borders, let alone across the country.

Despite serious matters such as fragmented land holdings, depletion of soil quality, and lack of effective irrigation and mechanisation, female farmers such as those pictured below form the backbone of the agricultural production in the sub-continent. Quite often the costs of harvest outweigh the wholesale receipts received, turning a large percentage of fragmented farmers to subsistence living. Due to a lack of financial incentive, the rural to urban sector migration of young individuals has left an industry with insufficient deployable manpower.

The rank and file of our economy lies in our farming fields and the people who tend them. Our ability to move forward as a nation will only happen if we sufficiently re-invest back into our national agricultural supply chain, and take care of the people who are breaking their backs so we can eat safely at home.

#proudofyoumaa 🙏#empoweredwomenofindia #salutetoourindianfarmers