Labour crunch may hit Punjab paddy sowing

"It is certain that labour shortage would hit paddy transplantation, which could result in reduction of paddy sowing area," BKU President Ajmer Singh Lakhowal said recently.Paddy transplantation in the state is scheduled to start from June 10 after the state government asked farmers to avoid paddy sowing before June in view of declining water table in the state.

The gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that over 90 per cent of paddy sowing in the state is done by migrant labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Moreover, the state agriculture department has also admitted that the labour shortage would pose serious problems as far as paddy sowing was concerned.

"Punjabi farmers are now totally dependent upon migrant labourers for their agricultural operations. In such a scenario (labour shortage), you could well imagine how tough the going would be for farmers when they start paddy sowing next month," said a senior official of the agriculture department.

The acute labour shortage had also hit wheat lifting operations during the wheat harvesting season last month, which led to piling up of wheat bags and posed inconvenience to farmers in unloading their crop at mandis.

Labour contractors pointed out that migrant labourers were getting almost the same wages in the ongoing infrastructure projects in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as in Punjab. As a result, the state is witnessing labour shortage.

Describing this situation as a serious one, BKU (Rajewal) President Balbir Singh Rajewal said labour shortage would force the farmers to shell out more on hiring labourers which would increase their cost of transplantation heavily.

"Labour contractors will now exploit the situation by asking farmers to pay more," he asserted.

Rajewal said that this year, farmers would have to pay Rs 2,000 per acre for paddy transplantation against Rs 1,100-1,200 paid last season.

Punjab may see rise in acreage under paddy cultivation to 26 lakh hectares.