NIZAMABAD : Farmers in Nizamabad district, a major rice bowl in Telangana are facing the serious labour shortage and bringing labour from Uttar Pradesh (UP) for last few years. The number of UP labourers has increased this year.Farmers feel that the government’s MNREGS is creating labour shortage in villages and the modern agricultural methods are not giving expected results particularly for paddy.
In Bodhan Assembly constituency, many villages in Navipet and Renjal mandals are hiring labourers from UP every year in these two seasons — June-July and November-December for paddy plantation.
Farmers send their requirement to labour supply contractors after depositing money in their accounts and they send labourers to the respective villages. They are provided with accommodation basic needs in the village.Each team consists of 25 members and in each village, more than four to five teams are sent.
“Paddy plantation machine is not useful and that’s why they are depending on labourers,” Renjal mandal LK Farm farmer Kadiyala Venugopal said.
He said that the labourers work for more than 12 hours in paddy plantation. Team of 12 members cover three to four acres per day, he said. The local labourers are unable to do the work as their physical structure cannot withstand the work required for paddy plantation, he added. Another farmer K Sai Reddy said that demand for labourers per day is increasing in every village and even small farmers are seeking them for cultivating paddy. A labour contractor Diwakar Vishwas from Lakhanpur district in UP said that more than 15 teams are working in different villages in Navipet and Renjal mandals. He said that after all expenditure one labourer earns `500 per day.