Rabi crop takes a hit, with key officers on strike

The rabi crop is set to take a beating in Pune and other parts of the state. The reason: assistant agriculture officers, who play a key role in ensuring quality crop production...

The rabi crop is set to take a beating in Pune and other parts of the state. The reason: assistant agriculture officers, who play a key role in ensuring quality crop production, are on strike and in no mood to give up till their demand of salary hike is met by the state government. Assistant agricultural officers are demanding that their basic salary be brought on a par with junior irrigation department engineers.

With the sit-in strike entering the eighth day on Monday, all operations, right from seed selection to seed sowing have been affected severely on 53.56 lakh hectare across the state.

8220;Everything has come to a standstill. Farmers are getting no tips on selecting the right kind of seed and technique to sow them in a scientific manner,8221; said Sandeep Kevte, president of the Maharashtra Rajya Krishi Sahayak Sanghatana.

8220;We help farmers in practically every possible way to ensure quality and quantity of crop production,8221; said Navin Borhade, secretary of the sanghatna, whose team concentrates on Maval area of Pune district. 8220;Seed selection, seed treatment, land preparation, fertiliser selection, tillage operations and sowing are all monitored meticulously by assistant agricultural officers across the state. Since the strike began, these key activities have come to a stop,8221; he said. The rabi season began in September. Pune is known for mass production of wheat and jowar while bajra, jowar, wheat and green pea are grown across the state. There are nearly 450 assistant agriculture officers in Pune and 11,569 in the whole state.

Not only has the strike cast a shadow on quality and quantity of rabi production, as many as 180 agriculture schemes sponsored by the state and central governments for farmers have also been adversely affected. The strike has also compounded the miseries of lakhs of labourers working under the Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Nearly 700 companies that supply seed to local and international markets are twiddling their thumbs as the seed testing laboratories have shut shop due to the strike. 8220;The process of export worthiness certificates by labs in Pune and Nagpur has come to a stop. Without the certificates, export cannot take place,8221; Borhade said.

Kevte said a delegation of assistant agriculture officers will meet Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in Mumbai on Monday to press for a salary hike.

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PM8217;s Vidarbha package hurt
The strike has ground to a halt various government plans including disbursement of special Vidarbha package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last year. Because of the strike, farmers are not getting cows, bulls, fertilisers and seed.
The assessment work related to damage caused by the rain has also stopped in its tracks.