Farmers told to go in for manual process as harvesting begins

Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, March 30

The harvesting of wheat has begun in some villages of the Moga district even as the agencies are gearing up for the procurement of the foodgrain from April 1.

The state government and agricultural experts have asked the farmers to go for manual harvesting. An increase in the prices of wheat chaff (toori) in the last few years due to its rising demand in the paper industry too has led the small and marginal farmers to go for manual harvesting to reap financial benefits.

The inclement weather conditions in the past couple of weeks that flattened the crop have also forced the farmers to go for manual harvesting.

Agriculture Minister Tota Singh said the Agriculture Department had recently launched a drive to educate the farmers to go for manual harvesting to get more benefits by preparing their own dry fodder for cattle and assorting the best grains to make seed for the next cropping season.

“I have always advocated manual harvesting, which not only fulfills domestic need of dry fodder for cattle but also enhances the income and saves spending of extra money on purchase of seeds,” he said.

Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, Agriculture Officer, said: “Harvesting through combine harvester produces 8-10 quintals of dry fodder from an acre of land under wheat, while the quantity goes up to 20-25 quintals when harvesting is done manually. Though manual harvesting costs more, the benefits go beyond the cost.”