Kakinada: Farmers facing serious labour crunch in wake of lockdown

Kakinada: A total of 4.5 lakh farmers are grappling with the difficulty of mobilising farmworkers to harvest rabi paddy crop in East Godavari district. Paddy was cultivated in 1.64 lakh hecatares in the district.

Vanumu Nageswar Rao, a farmer in Teki village under Kapileswrapuram mandal, said the farmworkers are willing to work in the fields lest they contracted the coronavirus. Apart from it, the workers are not willing to come out of their houses because of the fear that they may be ill-treated and beaten up by the police.

Technicians are reluctant to rent harvesting machines for small farmers. The agents, who handle the harvesters, are willing to deploy the machines only if the farmland is more than 10 acres. Apart from it, the agents are demanding between Rs 1,8,00 and Rs 2,500 rent for each machine per acre.