Labour crunch may hit harvesting

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, April 14

The Centre’s assurance has failed to allay the fears of farmers, who have no idea how to go about things without labour and equipment.

The district administration’s claims f making arrangements for smooth procurement of wheat too seem to have fallen flat, with a majority of the farmers saying harvesting would be delayed due to labour shortage.

PAU advisory for farmers

• Practise routine cleaning of frequently touched surfaces of agricultural machines/tools.
• Clean machinery with detergent, water and sodium hypochlorite (1%).
• Electric parts of tractor, combine should be covered with polythene during cleaning.
• Disinfect the most frequently used surface like steering wheel, throttle lever, levers and mirror.

On visiting villages, including Jhoke Harihar, Kaluwala, Tendiwala and Bhanewala, situated along the Indo-Pakistan border, it was learnt that the farmers were worried about the availability of labour.

Malkit Singh, Jagsir Singh, Nirmal Singh and Gurwinder Singh, farmers from Jhoke Harihar village, said they did not think harvesting would start on time. “First, the crop was affected due to inclement weather and now we are worried about the labour. Also, we have to ensure that social distancing norms are followed while working in the fields,” said Gurwinder.

“It will not be possible for the farmers to complete harvesting in the given time limit. We have to work work day in day out. But we can’t blame anyone as we understand how grim the the situation is,” said Nirmal Singh, another farmer.

The situation of farmers in villages like Kaluwala, Tendiwala, Gatti Rajo ke and Basti Bhane Wali is no better.

“We have to face a lot of restrictions since our land is situated across the fence,” said Darshan Singh.“Restrictions imposed by the BSF can’t be defied,” said Joginder Singh, a small farmer. Sandip Channan, DIG, BSF, said farmers whose land was across the fence were allowed to go to fields or limited hours only.