Wheat harvesting becomes problem in absence of labourers

The farmers in the country are facing a new problem nowadays as they don't have required manpower to garner their wheat crop, which is ready for harvest. They say the government must come up some solution to deal with the situation soon, otherwise crucial crop would be wasted.

Noida: Farmers across states in India are in a new problem as their wheat, a rabi crop, is ready to be harvested and there are no labourers to help them to garner it.

The 21-day lockdown, which was imposed to combat spread of coronavirus in the country by the union government over two weeks ago, has resulted in shortage or no availability of workers.

Farmers in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Gujarat, where wheat is grown in the winter season and harvested in the months of April and May every year, are worried how would they be able to collect the wheat crop on their own as the process requires a large number of people working almost round the clock to secure and store the crop, which then is used for the rest of the year.

An ETV Bharat correspondent visited some of the farmers here in the suburban area and found out that most of the farmers, trying to garner the crop on their own, asked the government to find a way out to this crisis so the important crop could be garnered successfully.

"The government must try and find a way out for us as it is a major problem. We need manpower and the machines to garner our wheat crop," Omprakash told ETV Bharat.

He said the required manpower was missing because of the lockdown.

Asserting that they understand the situation, Naresh, another farmer in the area, said at least machines needed to gather the crop must be made available to the farmers.

"The crop is ready to be harvested and it's to be harvested soon, otherwise it would get destroyed," he said, adding that the government authorities must come up with some solution to deal with the situation.