LUDHIANA: In the last paddy season, farmers faced problems due to shortage of labour because of Covid-19, but this year, they have the problem of plenty.
“Last year, labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh did not make it to Punjab due to Covid-19.
So, we had to even pay Rs 6,000 per acre for the paddy transplantation.
This year, there is surplus labour and so the rate has come down to Rs 3,500 per acre.
Last year, many farmers had sent vehicles to get labourers from outside, but this time around farm labourers came on their own,” said Kuldeep Singh, a farmer of Jatiwal village who has around 20 acres of land.
“Our village sends a batch of villagers to Morcha on Delhi borders regularly to the protests.
But despite that, we are not facing issues in paddy transplantation, as there are more than sufficient farm workers available now,” said Maggar Singh, a large-holding farmer from Turmuri village in Khanna area.
He added that they have got 40 farm workers from Bihar.
In some areas, the rate for paddy transplantation has fallen even more than Rs 3,500 per acre.
“In our village, it is around Rs 3,000 per acre,” said Sukhjit Singh of Diwala village on Khanna Samrala road.
Meanwhile, Sardara Singh Johal, an agricultural economist and chancellor of Central University in Bathinda, insisted the direct sowing of rice, which requires less labour, is yet to have an impact of the farm labourers.
Johal indicated that the area under traditional paddy growing methods is in billion of acres, while DSR has only reached thousands of acres.
According to him, this year simply more people have come from their respective states to earn some money, resulting in over supply.
Sukhjit Singh, a farmer from Diwala, who uses DSR technique to sow rice, said while in Bathinda the area under DSR has increased significantly, because of brackish ground water, in Ludhiana district, it has decreased compared with previous years.