Farmers give SOS call, seek agri machinery for wheat harvest

The wheat crop is ready for harvest on hundreds of thousands of acres of land in several districts of Punjab and Sindh but lack of agriculture machinery and labour is making the harvest almost impossible.

Lack of resources is the obvious impediment as expressed by the countenances of the farmers, who are worried about a weather forecast that has predicted rain in a few days.

However, their worries have no immediate remedy, at least in their hands, as they have no equipment to harvest the fields, nor have they been provided with the thrashers by the provincial government for the wheat crop already harvested.

The farmers have pleaded to the government to provide them with assistance with regard to the harvest equipment before the wheat crop is destroyed by the coming rains as the forecast suggests.

They have asked the Punjab government to make an exception to the lockdown rule for the transport of the equipment and machinery for the wheat harvest.

As the wheat crop is ready for harvesting in the southern parts of Punjab, the farmers are facing great hardships and fearing severe losses due to the non-availability of agricultural equipment.

The area surrounding Sakhi Sarwar – a town in DG Khan district – is one of them where the wheat crop cultivated on thousands of acres is ready for harvesting. But the growers cannot do anything as they do not have harvesters, thrashers and other equipment because of the lockdown imposed to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

And their anxiety has multiplied because of the rains that are predicted to hit the country from April 6.

Fearing that the wheat crop would be destroyed because of the rains, they have urged the government to relax the lockdown so that the wheat crop could be harvested.

This report comes after the Punjab government on Thursday ordered the concerned quarters to immediately reopen the workshops of agricultural machinery to meet the needs of farmers in the upcoming wheat harvesting season.

On the other hand, the farmers in the greenbelt of Balochistan – Jaffarabad, Nasirabad and Sohbatpur – are although able to harvest their crop but unable to transport the produce due to the lockdown.

This is a very serious problem for the farmers as they wait for months to earn money after toiling hard in the fields. This situation can also further exacerbate the wheat and flour shortage being experienced in various parts of the country.  

Earlier this week, the Sindh had exempted the seeds, fertilizers and pesticides shops from the lockdown to ensure proper supplies for the farmers.

The wheat harvesting and the sowing season after that have attained even more importance given the crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic as the FAO, WTO and WHO have warned of possible food shortage in the world.

A joint statement signed by the heads of FAO, WHO and WTO said, “Uncertainty about food availability can spark a wave of export restrictions, creating a shortage on the global market.”

"In the midst of the COVID-19 lockdowns, every effort must be made to ensure that trade flows as freely as possible, specially to avoid food shortages," they added.

"When acting to protect the health and wellbeing of their citizens, countries should ensure that any trade-related measures do not disrupt the food supply chain," the statement added.

“Over the longer term confinement orders and travel restrictions risk causing disruptions in agricultural production due to the unavailability of agricultural labour and the inability to get food to markets.”

"Such disruptions including hampering the movement of agricultural and food industry workers and extending border delays for food containers, result in the spoilage of perishables and increasing food waste," they added.