Migrant crisis: Farmers to go for direct seeding of rice

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 5

Farmers are a harried lot due to massive shortage of migrants who have gone back to their respective states during the lockdown imposed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. While some agriculturists are eagerly waiting for labourers to return, others have opted for direct seeding of rice (DSR) technique this Kharif season.

Farmers said they largely depend on paddy produce to repay loans, deposit fee of their wards and avail medical facilities.

Gurtej Singh, a farmer from Mehatpur, who has adopted the DSR technique, said, “You might have seen the condition of farmers sowing sugarcane. They are waiting for the payment from last six months. We are left with no other option, but to sow paddy.”

Davinder Singh of Nawanshahr is waiting for migrants to return. He said numerous farmers do farming on lease basis and they have to pay in advance. “Good yield or no yield, we have to pay upfront. At least, we know the MSP of paddy.”

Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Sardarwala village, said, “At present, I don’t have labourers to sow paddy. I have decided to go for direct seeding of rice technique, but I cannot do away with paddy.”