Crop flattened, shortage of manual labour adds to Haryana farmers’ woes

Rain-battered farmers in Haryana are facing a fresh challenge: How to harvest the flattened wheat crop. As lodged crop cannot be harvested with machines, experts advise the use of manual labour for the task. But there isn’t sufficient labour available for the job.

Though at least 70% of the crop is ready for harvesting and even government agencies have started procurement operations (from April 1), the shortage of labour and weather vagaries have left wheat growers in a fix.

‘Conditions not ripe for harvest’

As per ground reports, at least 60% of the wheat crop has been lodged and farmers are struggling to harvest their crop without incurring a considerable loss.

Praveen Kumar, a farmer from Nilokheri of Karnal district, revealed that he has four acres of wheat crop ready for harvest but he cannot go ahead with it as the conditions are not suitable now. “Harvesting of flattened crop with the use of machines will further cause a loss of at least 2 to 4 quintals per acre as these cannot pick up grain from spikes on the ground.”

He added, “Even if we were to go for mechanised harvest, fields have to be dry for machines to be able to pick up the grain. As our fields are still damp, the conditions are not suitable for harvesting. Besides, the grains, which were golden in colour about a week ago, have now turned black.”

Machine owners, operators left idle

Jai Ram, from Yamunanagar, who owns combine harvesters that he provides to farmers on hire basis, said, “This is for the first time in several years that our machines and operators are sitting idle during this time as harvesting could not be started due to rains. Each day is causing a loss of around ₹40,000.”

Lustre loss expected: Experts

Experts are of the view that harvesting should not be delayed if the crop is ready as doing so many not only affect the yield but also cause lustre loss.

As per the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute manual, delay in harvesting leads to more weed growth that causes choking of combine. At higher moisture content, grains are badly damaged by the cylinder action. This leads to higher cylinder loss and lower cleaning efficiency. There might be choking problem at different stages in the combine due to high moisture content.

Karnal deputy director, agriculture, Aditya Dabas said, “Rains have increased losses and the harvesting cost. As there is a shortage of labour, farmers are either left with the option of harvesting with machines, even though it is not recommended, or spend extra to hire manual labour.”

As per district agriculture department officials, manual harvesting had become negligible in the last 10 years as it is very expensive and sluggish. Only small farmers go for it, they added while stating that farmers with big landholdings prefer the use of combine harvesters and reaper binders.

Labourers hike their rates

Raj Kumar of Ladwa, who has hired a labourer to harvest his three acres of wheat manually, said, “Labourers have increased their rates for harvesting. They now charge two quintal wheat and two quintal fodder for harvesting of one acre of wheat which costs around ₹6,000 against ₹4,000 we used to spend on combine harvesters and fodder machines.”

Meanwhile, some small farmers are contemplating returning to manual harvesting completely.

“I started harvesting the produce on one-and-a-half acres of my land on Sunday. It will take around a week for me and my wife to harvest it,” said Rampal, a farmer of Radaur of Yamunanagar.

Karam Chand, deputy director, agriculture department, Kaithal, said around 50% crop is lodged in the district