NEW DELHI: The 21-day nationwide lockdown coincides with peak harvest season of Rabi (winter sown) crops in many parts of the country, triggering a demand for some regulated exemptions for farmers and farm labourers so that they don’t lose their produce.
The crops of wheat, gram, mustard and lentils are ready for harvest in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and other parts in central India.
Even as states are trying to find out ways to allow harvesting, the lockdown created concerns on the ground due to unavailability of farm labourers in such a situation. In the backdrop of the crop loss due to recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms, farmers are not willing to keep the crops remain unharvested as they now want to retain whatever could be saved after extreme weather events this month.
Underlining this critical situation in the wake of lockdown, Lucknow-based farm expert Sudhir Panwar said, “Movement of farmers and agriculture labourers should be allowed from home to farms so that they can continue with their ongoing harvest operations. Delayed Procurement is not much of a problem, but harvest can’t be delayed. If harvest is forced to be delayed, it will result into loss of 5-10% of produce due to ‘shattering’ in wheat and mustard.”
Madhya Pradesh and Uttar P
