Farmers Movement Archive

Crunch situation

Crop DiversificationOf these farmers, 8,595 having 8,736 hectares are from the blocks of Babain, Guhla, Ismailabad, Pipli, Ratia, Shahabad, Sirsa and Siwan, where the water table has gone below 40 metres.“Under the Mera Pani, Meri Virasat scheme, paddy farmers have given their consent to diversify to other crops,” says Dr Suresh Gahlawat,Additional Director, Agriculture.The paddy-sowing season, which officially began on June 15, is witnessing an unprecedented crisis owing to labour shortage in Haryana, triggered by the exodus of migrant labourers who went back to their native states during the Covid-induced lockdown. Farmers have to rely on local labourers, who are demanding higher wages than the migrants.Joginder Singh, a farmer from Baldi village in Karnal district, prepared his 30-acre land for paddy. When he lost all hope of the arrival of migrant labourers, he had to hire local labour at higher wages. He had spent Rs 2,300 per acre last year, but he has to pay Rs 3,700/acre this time. “No doubt, the migrant labourers have expertise in paddy transplantation, but I had no option but to hire the local labourers as my fields were ready and uncertainty prevailed over the arrival of migrants,” says Joginder, adding that he will get paddy transplanted on another 25 acres after the arrival of monsoon.Rakesh Bans, a farmer from Shahabad in Kurukshetra district, has the same story to tell. He says the lockdown has adversely affected the farming community. “Earlier, during the wheat harvesting season, we faced shortage of labour. The situation is the same during the paddy transplantation season. We are dependent on migrant labourers, but very few of them have reached here this season, forcing us to rely on local labourers who are demanding higher wages,” he adds.Rajiv Sharma, a farmer from Naraingarh in Ambala district, says the local labourers have hiked their wages to Rs 5,000 from Rs 2,700 last season. He says the local labour is less efficient in comparison to migrant labourers, but they have no choice but to employ them.A few farmers sent buses to bring labourers from Bihar. Some of the farmers have deposited money into the accounts of the migrant labourers to ensure their speedy arrival. “We sent a bus for Rs 60,000 to Sitamarhi to bring around 30 labourers for the transplantation of our paddy. We have to bear these expenses as these labourers have been doing transplanting for the past 15 years in our fields,” said Dalip Singh, a farmer from Pabana Hasanpur in Karnal district.“I have deposited Rs 25,000 into the account of the labour contractor, who would bring the labour from Bihar. He has promised to reach here before monsoon. After the quarantine period, they will start transplanting paddy in my fields,” said Suresh Kumar, a farmer of Taraori, a rice bowl of the country.The exodus of migrant labourers and their reluctance to return has forced the farmers to adopt the direct seeding of rice (DSR) technique. As per officials of the Agriculture Department, the area under DSR has increased threefold in a year. “Paddy is cultivated on around 14 lakh hectares in the state, of which around 15,000 hectares have been covered under the DSR this time owing to the shortage of labour. During the previous paddy season, it was around 5,000 hectares. The area under basmati may decrease by 10 per cent due to the labour crunch,” says Aditya Dabas, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Karnal. Some farmers have bought DSR machines to overcome the labour shortage, he adds.

The Tribune

2020-06-22