KHAMMAM: Students who were busy with their academics till mid-March can no more be found in their houses wasting time or playing on their mobile phones. With schools remaining shut due to the lockdown, children are now on the farmlands, helping their parents in cultivation as farm labourers are unavailable.
It is learnt that the nationwide lockdown has given them a chance to test their luck in farming.
Many of them, who had been learning various IT courses and honing their skills on technology till one-and-a-half months ago, have now become workers in their own fields. When The New Indian Express interacted with a few students turned farmers, they said that they entered the fields for the first time to help the elders as the latter were unable to find farm labourers due to the lockdown.
According to sources, the farmers have planted vegetables in around 5,000 acres of farmland in the district and have also utilised thousands of acres in the erstwhile district for cultivating fruits. The situation is reportedly the same in all areas. Sanka Krishnarajuna Rao, a farmer of Narasapuram village who cultivates ladies’ finger, said that though the crop was ready for harvest, he was unable to carry out the same due to unavailability of labourers.
“Now, me, my wife and our two sons, one a degree student and the other an Intermediate student harvest the crop and transport it for sale.” B Sudhakar Reddy, a vegetable farmer of Kandukur village in Khammam district, said: “Never have I ever faced a situation like this. However, me, my son, a BTech student, and my daughter, an Intermediate student, are working hand-in-hand and earning our daily bread.