Chandigarh: Faced with an acute shortage of labour following the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, the wheat export in Haryana smells looming trouble, a source said.
Haryana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Jai Parkash Dalal on Thursday informed that the number of mandis and procurement centers for the purchase of wheat has been increased from 477 to 2000 and from 64 to 248 for the purchase of mustard so that there is one mandi available to the farmers for every three villages for the sale of crops.
According to the report, the problems, however, persist as the farmers are not being able to avail the crop cutting machines amid nationwide lockdown.
"This year the untimely rain and hailstorms have already led to a massive decrease in production. On the other hand we shouldn't forget that if the cutting of crops are not done on time, we might even face a huge problem in obtaining regular vegetables because those crops will eventually be destroyed," Surendra Sangwan, a farmer from Karnal said.
Reportedly, because of acute labour shortage due to the lockdown, youngsters are compelled to join their families in harvesting crops. "I have cleared Haryana Staff Section Commission test but due to the prevailing crisis, I am forced to come into the field and work," Neetu, a B.com graduate added.
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The two states together need nearly 16 lakh farm hands for harvesting and procurement, but with migrant labourers back to their home states, and seasonal labour from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar not coming in, there is a crisis at hand, according to farmer associations.
Vijay Kalra, president, Federation of Aarthia Associations of Punjab said, “We are looking at a very major agriculture crisis that will have an unprecedented negative impact on Punjab farmers. The seasonal labour that comes from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar into Punjab from last week of March till the first week of April for procurement is totally missing.”
As per the order released by the Home ministry on March 27, the government has given a concession to all units creating and packaging fertilizers, pesticides and seeds in order to help farmers amid lockdown.
Moreover, Haryana is ranked third in wheat export after Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, the state gives around 15 percent of the total wheat to the union reserves.
