Labour shortage likely to take toll on wheat procurement in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 1

As the state government prepares for its biggest annual exercise of procuring wheat amid the curfew, it faces a serious challenge of shortage of the migrant labour.

The state is expecting to produce 180-185 lakh metric tonnes (lmt) of wheat this year. Of this, 135 lmt is expected to reach mandis after the harvesting of the crop begins in a fortnight.

Though the harvesting of crop is largely mechanised, there are farmers who harvest the crop manually. For this, labour from other states starts arriving in Punjab around this time. Also, labour is required for the handling of foodgrain in the mandis.

Sutantar Kumar Airi, Director, Agriculture, said he hoped that the local labour in Punjab would be able to help in the harvesting of crop. Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, general secretary, BKU, however, is sceptical. “We have been repeatedly appealing to the government to get proactive in the matter. Barely 10 per cent of the farmers have employed permanent labour, while the remaining hire daily wagers for harvesting. There are also reports on combine harvesters not being able to reach Punjab after these machines were taken to central and southern states for harvesting earlier,” he said.

The real challenge arising out of the shortage of labour will be in the mandis. “Foodgrain handling operations require specialised labour. We can only hope that the lockdown period would end and the labour would be available,” said Secretary, Agriculture, Kahan Singh Pannu.

Additional Chief Secretary, Development, Vishwajit Khanna, today announced a slew of measures to allow free movement of men and machines for the purpose. In an advisory issued to all Deputy Commissioners, he said free movement of farmers, labourers, farm operation machinery (both individual and that of custom hiring centres) would be allowed. He has also asked all districts to ensure that sale of seed and fertilisers is not affected.