An exodus of labour is looming over the ongoing Rabi marketing season and is expected to spill over into the Kharif season as the bulk of migrants in Haryana and Punjab, eager to return to their native places, await the opening up of the nationwide lockdown.
To tackle the acute shortage of labour, government procurement agencies in the cereal bowl states of Haryana and Punjab have employed local workforce under MGNREGA to fill up for the seasonal flow of migrants hit by the lockdown.
“Five of my regular labourers did not report for work this week and most likely reached their villages in Uttar Pradesh by now,” a Punjab-based commission agent engaged in the procurement of wheat, said. “Left with less than a third of usual numbers of migrant workers, I am forced to bank on locally hired hands.”
An opportunity for better income every year drives farm hands from different states, mainly Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, during wheat procurement and paddy transplantation to Punjab and Haryana. This year, the annual interstate migration was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Seasonal labour, the mainstay of farm hands, and mandi operations are mostly supplied by migrants. Over 26,000 commission agents have been issued passes for wheat procurement in Punjab.
“There is a shortage of labour for the ongoing wheat harvesting and marketing but we have engaged the local workforce. A bigger concern is paddy sowing season, but we are hopeful that the situation will ease by then,” Vishwajeet Khanna, additional chief secretary of development, Punjab, said.
The state will have to rely on MGNREGA workers and local labour in case the situation spills over to the ensuing paddy sowing season. “It would be a challenge as paddy transplantation and sowing is a skillful job and migrants are apt at it,” Khanna said.
This year the wheat procurement has been staggered to maintain social distancing and tackle the short supply of labour. “The procurement has been extended to 40-45 days instead of the usual 20-22 days to avoid crowds in mandis and we are aiming
to 4-4.5 lakh per day during peak days instead of the usual 10-10.5 lakh tonnes,” Khanna said. Several procurement mandis have been doubled this year, he added.
In Madhya Pradesh, the spread of the disease has affected mandi operations in the districts of Bhopal, Indore, and Ujjain as they fall in the red zone. A temporary shortage of farm labor is also being noticed in some pockets of Uttar Pradesh as the low availability of combine harvesters has spiked demand for manual labour.
“We had to employ labour engaged in sugarcane mills for the wheat season as seasonal workers didn’t come during wheat harvesting. Even they are anxious to return, as they have been stuck here for the last six months,” Jaiveer Chaudhary, a Karnal-based farmer said. He said that his key concern was the sowing and transplantation of paddy saplings —‘jirri’ in local parlance — a key cash crop in his district.
