Farmers Turn to Mechanization Due to Lack of Labour

Mahude: Paddy harvesting has picked up pace in Bhor taluka. Farmers are struggling to find labourers to harvest paddy as they are everywhere.

Due to the shortage of labour, the demand for machines has increased and the machines are also not available on time. But farmers are harvesting with the help of family members and machines are also being used, fearing that the paddy will fall due to the harvest.

Paddy is the main crop in Bhor taluka and this year the crop was in full swing as the rains were satisfactory. But due to karpa disease and damage to the paddy crop due to return rains, the production of farmers is declining.

Paddy harvesting is going on and farmers are opting for mechanisation as they are not getting labourers. This has mainly increased the demand for harvesting machines, harvesters and milling machines.

Due to the limited number of machines and all the farmers are harvesting at the same time, the machine is not available on time. So the farmer has to wait for the machine.

As a result, farmers say they have to put up numbers two days in advance for the machine. Some of these farmers are also harvesting rice with the help of family members. There is a trend towards the milling machine as there are no labourers to crush the paddy even if the harvested rice is kept in the collection.

A sack of rice is priced at Rs 140, a harvester rs 210 and a sack of water rice is Rs 320. If it is on an hour, it costs Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,000. The harvesting machine costs Rs 500-600 an hour. If they get labourers, they have to make arrangements to bring tea with rs 300 to Rs 400, including breakfast and one-time meals.

This year, the paddy crop was in full swing. But the disease caused losses to many farmers. Since there are no people to work in the fields, rice harvesting works are being done with the help of warangula and family members. The work of harvesting paddy is taking extra time due to non-availability of labourers. Also, we have to wait as we are not getting the heavy machine (mulch machine) on time, said Jagannath Khopde, farmer.