VARANASI: Harvesting of wheat, deferred by the farmers in Varanasi, due to the national lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus, has now begun.
While a few farmers said that they had panicked because of the COVID-19 threat, others mentioned that they had been facing problems caused by the lack of field labourers.
"We couldn't find any field labourers, due to the lockdown imposed. No one would step out of the house back then. However, at the present the situation is better than before as labour is now available," said Ram Naresh Dubey, a farmer.
Talking about the difficulties faced by farmers this season, another farmer Suresh said, "Harvesting of wheat was delayed as we couldn't get the tractors or threshing machines due to the lockdown, and since we are closer to the city area, the scare of COVID-19 was prevalent and we didn't step out of our houses."
Meanwhile, all labourers have been instructed to practise social distancing and to follow other preventive measures to contain the spread of the virus.