–Farmers remain empty handed as cutting season almost over in Southern districts
PESHAWAR: Shortage of labour due to the coronavirus pandemic, rain and locust attacks are creating problems for farmers across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) who are ready to harvest this year’s wheat crop.
The farmers expressed the fear that heavy rains have already damaged the winter crop and now the unavailability of the labour force would inflict a heavy loss to their standing crop.
There will be decreased in wheat production due to various diseases, heavy rains and the locusts attack that would contribute to the shortage of flour in the province which is already dependent on Punjab to fulfil its needs.
Farmers said that the local labour that was earlier available at Rs500 per day have now increased their daily wage to Rs1,500 which poor farmers cannot afford.
Moreover, despite the commencement of wheat harvest season, especially in Southern districts of the province, no SOPs have been issued by the provincial government to rein in the coronavirus, which could spread during wheat harvesting and threshing season.
Hidayat Khan, a farmer from Nowshera district, told Pakistan Today that labour used to come to Nowshera from Swat, Bajaur, Mohmand and other districts to help the local farmers during harvest season but due to the ban on of public transport, none have arrived the villages as yet.
He said that late harvests will mean reduce yields as ripe crops will be vulnerable to rain and hailstorms, adding that clouds are hovering over the sky and they must complete the harvest without any further delay to avoid further losses.
On the other hand, the charges for wheat harvesting machines have also increased, leaving the majority of farmers who have already spent a lot on wheat crop in terms of seeds, fertilisers, parasites and other expenses, unable to spend a penny more.
Shahabullah, another wheat grower, said that most of the farmers in KP grow wheat for their own food requirement. “They too are under extreme stress as they are depended on it for surviving,” he added.
He said that though the cutting season was almost over in Southern districts, the government has not yet given formal permission for harvesting nor have any precautionary measures been taken for the protection and transport of labourers which has caused a lot of frustration among the local farmers.
He said that most farmers are now harvesting at nights to avoid the police and district administration officials.
Moreover, according to agronomists, a number of diseases have spread in KP this year due to heavy rains, which is also likely to reduce the provincial wheat production by 30 per cent, leading to a shortage of wheat in the province.
It may be mentioned here that Punjab has banned the supply of wheat and flour to KP due to which the province is facing a shortfall of 5,000 to 7,000 tonnes of wheat per day.
