Farmers flock to city to find labourers; PAU says don’t panic

However,this year even the labour,which was earlier available in abundance,is hard to find. Thus,their rates have too gone up due to shortage.

While a farmer hiring a labourer had to pay Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,000 for getting paddy sowed till last year,it’s nothing less than Rs 2,500-3,000 which is going to work this paddy sowing season.

But the option is still viable if compared to a paddy transplantor which costs nothing less than Rs 1.5 lakh and thus completely out of reach for small and medium farmers. This cost is despite the subsidy by the state government. The transplantors are also not easily available to all the farmers.

Without the subsidy,the minimum price of a transplantor is Rs 2.5 lakh while the maximum is Rs 10 lakh,which is completely out of reach for farmers.

But if experts from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) are to be believed,it is still not the time for farmers to get panicky. “No doubt,labour is in short supply and costly this year but nothing to get panicky about. They will arrive but late,” says Dr M S Sidhu,senior economist-cum-head,PAU Economics Department.

He says there are many factors which have led to the shortage of labour. “First the MNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) has played a major role as now migrants feel comfortable in living with their families and getting employment too. It’s not that they have completely stopped coming here but not in huge numbers as earlier. So,definitely shortage will be there,” he said.

According to Dr Sidhu,except paddy sowing,all other works in the process have become mechanised. This along with inflation and ‘more demand and less supply’ are also contributing to ‘short and costly’ labour.

Teja Singh,a farmer from Moga,who landed on the Ludhiana railway station on Sunday to find labourers,said,“We are ready to pay what they demand,give them food and accommodation but we are yet to find anyone.”