Harvest season here, not harvesters

TNN | Updated: Apr 7, 2020, 12:04 IST

Image used for Representative purposes

GURUGRAM/NOIDA: Farmers have decided to delay harvesting the rabi crop as much as possible in the absence of any directions from the government on how to manage the produce after it is cultivated. The harvesters have not reached their fields either, crucial now because there simply aren’t enough farm hands available, thanks to the massive exodus of daily wagers after the Covid lockdown.
Farmers in both west UP and Haryana have appealed to the governments to ensure combine harvesters that are stuck in various states reach their villages at the earliest. They have also sought adequate space in warehouses to store their produce till they get labourers to take it to the market.
Harvester operators from north India usually go to central and western parts of the country in winter to help farmers cultivate wheat there. During this time, they return to states like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to help harvest the rabi crop. Farmers in Haryana said many mechanical harvesters are stuck in states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan because of lockdown curbs.
The Centre has, however, assured farmers that harvesters moving from one state to another wouldn’t be stopped. In the past couple of days, many harvesters have left for their destinations, officials said. The government has also ordered shops that sell agriculture machinery and spare parts to open so that farmers who own harvesters can get the machines repaired.
“A late harvest means lower yield and reduced returns. If the government doesn’t intervene at the earliest, the lower yield will have a cascading effect on the retail market. It will also impact the government’s procurement process and we are the ones who will be affected the most,” said Rajiv Godra of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC).
Godra and other farmers like him said they needed to harvest wheat and mustard over the next 10 days. “Else, a substantial portion of the crop would be damaged,” he added. The rabi season hasn’t been quite fruitful for farmers around the national capital region this time. Spells of rain in February and March have affected their yield. But even if farmers manage to harvest wheat using machines that are expected to reach soon, storing the produce will be a challenge.
During the harvesting season in Punjab and Haryana, a substantial workforce comes from Bihar and Jharkhand to help farmers pack their produce in sacks and load them onto vehicles to be taken to wholesale markets, where it is procured by the government. Not only has this workforce not arrived this time, the farm labourers who help in the cultivation all the year round have also left for their homes in the wake of the lockdown.
“We are exposed to the vagaries of weather. Untimely rain has already damaged our crops to a certain extent. So, we had met a few ministers and officials of the agriculture department and asked them to assess the damage. Yet, when they enforced the lockdown, our concerns were bypassed,” said Dharambir Singh, a member of the All India Kisan Sabha.
Sources said Haryana alone needs around 10,000 mechanical harvesters during this time of the year. By a rough estimate, only 4,000 such machines are available with the farmers as of now.
Officials in the Haryana agriculture department agreed that farmers’ concerns need to be addressed at the earliest. “These are difficult times and most of our efforts have been directed at controlling the spread of coronavirus. Transportation of harvesters is being allowed now. An assessment of the damage to crops has also been done,” an official said.
Farmers in west UP, too, are waiting for combine harvesters from Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. They pointed out that the machines hadn’t left the two states despite an assurance from the UP agricultural production commissioner to ensure inter-state movement of harvesters. “There is already a shortage of daily wage labourers here. Harvesters can do their job, but where are the machines? They are still stuck in other states because of the lockdown,” said Dharmendra Bhati, a farmer from Jewar.