ELURU: The harvesters are in great demand in the paddy-rich West Godavari district as rabi operations peaked, thanks to the acute shortage of manpower. The machines on hire in different sizes are rolling into paddy fields from far-off places such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana region. Combined harvesters which are used for harvesting, threshing, winnowing, and even packing at times have become most sought after.
The labour problem has been worrying farmers for quite some time. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has reportedly worsened the situation with the district witnessing a reverse migration with settlers finding employment in their native villages in north coastal Andhra under the scheme. The demand-supply mismatch on the labour front has resulted in an increase of wage component in agriculture manifold.
According to Yerneni Nagendranath of the Andhra Pradesh Rytanga Samakhya, the district administration is not able to cope with the demand for harvesters. The administration had arranged bank finance to the ryot clubs for purchase of 45 harvesters under the Centrally-sponsored Rastriya Krushi Vikas Yojana (RKY) scheme in the previous financial year at the rate of one per mandal. The demand was so great that each village should have at least one harvester for smooth agricultural operations, he said.
200 harvesters
Medikonda Ramesh of Unguturu said not less than 200 harvesters were seen undertaking agricultural operations in Unguturu mandal alone in the current season. He harvested the crop in seven out of his 15 acres manually by paying Rs. 5,700 per acre in phase I. But the machines engaged in the rest of the fields in the next phase brought down the cost to Rs. 2,000, says Mr. Ramesh.
Complaints
He highlighted the need to ensure that the harvesters imported from China and Japan suited local conditions. The complaint is that the harvesters get bogged down in the water-logged and marshy delta fields and the grains harvested by machines are prone to having higher moisture levels. He called for change in the designs of the harvesters to address these problems. If the machine can undertake harvesting operations in one acre within an hour, at least 4-6 workers were required to take up the same amount of work, he said.
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