Study on short period markets of Meghalaya during the COVID-19 pandemic: An impact assessment

The present study was conducted to examine impact of the COVID- 19 on a vegetable market of Meghalaya. Analysis of loss and price difference of vegetable crops viz., potato, tomato, brinjal, cabbage and ginger were carried out for North Eastern Police Academy (NEPA) market of Meghalaya during the year 2021. In the present study, year 2019 considered as a normal year and compared subsequent with lockdown year i.e., 2020 and 2021, respectively. The findings of the study stated that potato had experienced maximum price difference of ?1700 per quintal, whereas, ginger observed highest loss of ?96720 in NEPA vegetables market during lockdown of year 2020. During second wave of the COVID-19 (year 2021), the ginger had observed highest price difference and loss of ?3045 and ?116850, respectively. The ginger had observed maximum gross loss of ?10.25 lakh throughout the lockdown period of the year 2020, whereas, same vegetable again had experienced highest loss of ?9.4 lakh during second lockdown year 2021. Further, it was observed that the losses encountered by the other vegetable crops were lesser than the ginger and potato. The study would be helpful for policy makers to formulate the relevant policy in context of the COVID-19 loss mitigation.