Paddy sowing delayed due to heatwave, labour shortage in Fatehgarh Sahib

Surinder Bhardwaj

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 15

Despite the instructions issued by the government to plant paddy only after June 15, the planting work has not started anywhere except a few places in Fatehgarh Sahib area. Although the fields have been ploughed by the farmers and the govt has also claimed to ensure uninterrupted power supply, the farmers are not planting the paddy because of intense heatwave, shortage of workers, and want of onset of rain.

Farmers Baldeep Singh and Narinder Singh of Sirhind city said that there is no use for irrigating the fields at present as the fields would dry up because of intense heat. They said that after it rains in upcoming days, water will start accumulating in the fields and only then the paddy plantation will commence.

Surjit Singh Sahi of Nabipur, Sikandar Singh of Mandofal, Bhagh Singh of Talania and many others while talking to The Tribune said that there is also a shortage of workers at several places and they are waiting for migrant labourers to arrive. A farmer said that one of the major reasons for the dependence on migrants is that the local youth has went abroad and only the old farmers remain in the villages who can’t plant paddy on their own. They said that the labour charges have increased sharply over the years because of this dependence on them.

The farmers said that in the current paddy season, they have used the same seeds that were recommended by the Punjab Agricultural University — mainly PR 126, 128 and 131. Apart from this, some farmers are also interested in planting Basmati because its rate is higher than other varieties of paddy. In the current season, the area of maize has also gone up due to the awareness campaign launched by the Agriculture Department to encourage farmers to diversify their crops.

Agriculture Officer Dr Daman Jhanji said that in this season, the department expects that paddy would be planted in about 85 thousand hectares in the district. Apart from this, a target of direct sowing of paddy in 500 acres has also been set about which the department is making the farmers aware. He said that most of the farmers have used the seeds proposed by the university which require less water and the which will mature in just 90 to 100 days. Dr Jhanji also said that fertiliser should be used according to the opinion of the agricultural experts.