Adilabad: No labour, no reaping

Adilabad: The coronavirus outbreak is affecting every sector in the country and farming is not an exception. The farmers of Adilabad district are worried as labour is unavailable due to total lockdown to reap the harvest of Rabi crops, as the government had announced the schedule for procuring yield.

In a few places, farmers had reaped paddy, sorghum, maize, red gram, bengal gram and other Rabi crops but in most of the places, the reaping is not done though the crops are ready to harvest.

The district administration made arrangements for the procurement of grains at village level and announced dates of procurement - red gram from April 7, paddy from April 16, sorghum from April 22 and maize from May 1. The government also announced minimum support price for Rabi crops.

In Adilabad district, red gram has been cultivated in 82,065 acres and expected production is 52,751 metric tonnes. The unreaped red gram pods are bursting due to excessive heat. Meanwhile, paddy was cultivated in 480 acres only in Adilabad, Utnoor and Echoda mandals and the expected production is 1,000 metric tonnes. Maize has been cultivated in 6,917 acres in the district and expected production is 17,293 metric tonnes.

The government had announced Rs 1,835 per quintal as minimum support price (MSP) for first quality paddy and Rs 1,815 for normal quality. 13 procurement centres have been set up for paddy. MSP for red gram is Rs 4,877 and 185 procurement centres will be established; while the MSP for maize is Rs 1,760 and 53 procurement centres will be set up. The MSP for sorgham is Rs 2,550 and will be purchased at 85 procurement centres.

But the farmers couldn't reap their produce as labour are not coming for work due to lockdown in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.Speaking to The Hans India, a farmer from Avalpur village of Bela mandal, Goli Suresh, said that labourers are not coming for work as they are afraid of coronavirus infection. "Hence, I am unable to cut the red gram yield, which is ready for reaping in about five acres," he lamented.

Ramulu, a farm labourer of Avalpur village, told this reporter, "We are worried about our lives and our family members, who are dependent on us. That's why we are not going for work. Besides the government is giving 12 kg rice and Rs 1,500 cash to each family and that is enough for us. We will wait till the lockdown is lifted."