Andhra Pradesh

Sortage of farmhands puts Prakasam ryots in Catch-22 situation

IVNP Prasad

ONGOLE: The woes of farmers in Prakasam district have compounded due to the shortage of labour, who have suffered huge losses due to Cyclone Nivar. While many farmers had to restart cultivation as their crops were inundated, shortage of labour has left the farmers in the lurch. There are around six lakh small to medium scale farmers in Prakasam who do not have the capacity to afford mechanisation, thereby forcing them to completely depend on labour for their cultivation. With paddy ready for harvest and crops like chilli, bengal gram, cotton and tobacco needing a lot of work to be done like clearing the weed, spraying fertilisers and watering, the farmers remained a worried lot. 

Most farm labourers have become construction workers and auto drivers. As workers are demanding high wages and work timings on par with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the farmers are not able to hire them Tata Krishna Rao, a farmer having around 3.5 acres of wetland in Gadiparthi Vari Palem in Cheemakurthy mandal, has cultivated paddy and green gram. “I have spent around `1.2 lakh on my paddy crop. Though, I am ready to provide breakfast, tea and snacks along with a daily wage of `200, farmhands refused to come for work. I had to employ six women from neighbouring villages, as local labourers are not available and have been demanding high wages,” Krishna Rao lamented. 

While the farmers are worried over giving high wages to workers, labourers said they have benefitted a lot from the NREGA. Chillaka Suseelamma, a farmhand leader from Darsi constituency, said NREGA has enabled them to earn good wages. “We must thank the government for bringing the NREGA. Now, we get paid a minimum of `250 to `300 per day. We start work by around 9 am and finish by around 5 pm. This is in stark contrast to what we were earning and working earlier. There is a huge demand for us now as agriculture works are in full swing,” she explained. 

M Narayana, a farmer from Inkollu mandal, had to employ labourers from nearby villages as workers in his village expressed their unavailability on the same dates. “We lost chilli crop in around 1.5 acres due to Cyclone Nivar and later we sowed vegetables like tomatoes, lady’s finger, brinjal, bottle guard and snake guard. For this, we had to depend on people outside our village. This puts an additional financial burden on us as we have to pay `100 extra to them towards travelling charges. Now, we requested our neighbouring farmers to extend a helping hand in our farm and we will reciprocate the same whenever they need. Luckily, they obliged,” Narayana told TNIE. 

P Venkata Rao, District Rythu Sangham leader said that labour shortage is increasing gradually as a number of people are moving to nearby towns or cities in search of better livelihood. “However, at present, farmhands are also getting a good remuneration when compared to olden days. Paddy harvest works, tobacco leaf grading work, cutting of chilli, cotton collection, weighing and packing works have become expensive for small-scale farmers as they can’t afford to go for complete mechanisation and they are hit hard as they depend on manual labour,” he reasoned.

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