Paddy cultivation across Kodagu has taken a back seat due to the bad weather condition and wildlife conflict even as the sector is now faced with acute shortage of labour. While hundreds of labourers migrated to the district during paddy harvest time from outside, the numbers have now dwindled due to decreasing farmlands and demand for labour in other sectors.
Due to the acute shortage of labour, the once traditional farmers are now seeking assistance from paddy harvester machines, which come with a price. “We are forced to rent rice harvesters at Rs 3,000 per hour due to the shortage of labour,” shared Hoovaiah, a farmer from Heggula village in the district. He explained that the harvester machines require a minimum of 2.5 hours to harvest one acre of paddy farmland. “To harvest just one acre, we spend Rs 7500 on just machines,” he added.
While the traditional method of harvesting was time-consuming, it is still looked at as a feasible option for traditional farmers. “If we hire labourers, we spend between Rs 500 and Rs 600 per labourer per day. And the harvesting work also includes the hoarding of the cut off paddy stubble, which is used by the farmers to feed the cattle. Otherwise, we have to spend extra bucks to procure paddy straw for cattle feed,” he explained.
However, with the machines harvesting the paddy farmland, the stubbles are cut into tiny pieces that are not suitable for cattle feed. “The straws cut using machines cannot be hoarded and dried efficiently. Also, these straws do not make an ideal cattle feed as they have residue smell of oils and are very small,” he explained.
A farmer spends over Rs 25,000 to cultivate a minimum of one-acre land including the cost of paddy seeds, labour, fertilizer and other maintenance work. While the traditional harvesting process cost less than Rs 5000 per acre and saved the farmer from spending money on cattle feed, harvesting with machines is looked at by traditional farmers as a lavish affair. “But we are forced to opt for this extravagant deal due to the shortage of labour,” he said. He urged the government to extend the NREGA scheme to provide labour-force during the paddy harvesting season as he concluded, “If NREGA is implemented for the paddy harvesting, it will increase production. The abandoned paddy lands will bloom again and this will increase the GDP too. There is a need to protect the paddy and ragi farmers.”