Farmers Movement Archive

Procurement begins, but no wheat arrival in mandis on Day 1

Tribune News ServiceJalandhar, April 15Wheat not arrived in mandis today on the first day of procurement as the crop in the region is yet to mature.In the ongoing lockdown period, farmers are apparently having a tough time not only due to shortage of labourers but also unavailability of combine harvesters, which may hit the harvesting of their crop.The machines, which look like tractors, are designed to carry out three important harvesting tasks — reaping, threshing and winnowing. However, farmers in several villages of the district claimed that the machines had failed to reach their villages.Even as arrangements have been put in place by the administration for procurement of Rabi crops, wheat growers in many villages of the district are mainly concerned about the timely availability of the harvesting machines.Gurpreet Singh Atwal, a farmer from village Charke in Bhogpur, said in the absence of combine harvesters we were unable to harvest our crop that is ready.“Getting a combine harvester had never been a problem for us as every year three harvesters were sent to our village well in advance, but due to the curfew we could not receive them even as harvesting days are on. Small farmers having are likely to face more problems as with the limited number of combines, only big farmers are going to be benefitted. Labourers for harvesting and loading the crop is also inaccessible, leaving to option to rely on,” added Atwal while demanding from the Agriculture Department to take stock of the situation.Sandeep Singh, a resident of Momandpur village, who has grown wheat on around 100 acres, said till last year, combine harvesters were sent to them from Bathinda and Malwa prior harvesting but the lockdown this time has taken a toll on the smooth transportation of the machines. Rana Singh, a farmer from Lidhran village, also has a similar story to tell.Operators unapproachableAlong with each harvester an operator is also hired who knows how to operate the machine and more importantly, got the ability to repair the same, which frequently breaks down during the harvesting process. However, scare of catching coronavirus has forced operators to remain indoors.Meanwhile, District Chief Agriculture Officer Surinder Singh said the department would supply combine harvesters shortly in all villages and assured that enough machines were available in the district.

The Tribune

2020-04-16