Agricultural fields in mechanisation mode

The Hindu, December 13, 2010

SANGAREDDY: M. Hanumantu of Nawabpet village in Hatnoora mandal in Medak district recently destroyed his paddy crop. He was one among the thousands of farmers in the district who were unable to hire labour for harvesting crop.
Mr. Hanumantu has 4.18 acres of land, out of which paddy was cultivated in three acres. He grew cotton in the remaining 1.18 acres. When the crop was ready for harvesting, he tried to hire a harvesting machine.
Though the operator brought the machine to the field, he refused to start it saying the field was wet and it would damage his machine. His efforts to hire labour did not yield result as they preferred to work for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) instead of the hard labour. Vexed with that, he lit his crop.
Time saved
Contrary to the experience of Mr. Hanumantu, many farmers in the district are preferring to hire machines to harvest the crop. According to sources in the Agriculture Department, more than 100 machines are functioning in the district.
Each machine is replacing about 1,000 mandays if it is to assume that machines are working between six to eight hours a day. While it would take five days for eight persons from harvesting to packing paddy in one acre of land, it is consuming only one-and-half hour for the machine to complete the job.
Farmers prefer these machines as it is becoming hard to find manual labour, in addition to consuming more time. The labourers are also demanding wages between Rs. 100 to Rs. 150 to work in the fields.
Cost factor
“This is benefiting farmers as the operator is charging Rs. 2,500 per acre whereas it will cost about Rs. 4,000 if labour is hired. In addition, the trader will be ready to procure the produce once it is ready in bags,” said Chandrasekhar, Joint Director of Agriculture.
According to department estimates, out of the 45,000 hectares of paddy that was cultivated in the district during the current rabi season, at least 30,000 hectares will be harvested by the machines.
Doubts are being expressed in the official circles whether the labourers would lose work in the farms in the long run as the farmer, once habituated to harvesting with machines, would only prefer machines.