On Baisakhi, farmers pray for smooth harvest in Punjab - Times of India

CHANDIGARH: For farmers of northwest India, especially Punjab, the festival of Baisakhi is the harbinger of hope as the harvest of wheat — the biggest rabi (winter sown) crop of the region — coincides with it. This year however, the threat of coronavirus has darkened the festive mood associated with Baisakhi, as harvesting and crop procurement face uncertainty on account of social distancing and other restrictions that have been put in place to check the spread of the contagion.
Although Punjab and Haryana governments have announced several measures to allow smooth procurement of harvest and procurement of wheat, farmers are still wary as the situation is both unprecedented and alarming.
Wheat harvest and purchase have never been threatened in Punjab despite the state witnessing trying times like the two world wars, partition of the country, bifurcation of the state in 1966 and militancy from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.
Noted economist Professor Sardara Singh Johl, who is the former vicechancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala and Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana said farmers of the region have never faced such a situation before.
Prof Johl said, “Traditionally, Baisakhi marked the onset of the wheat harvest. In the earlier years, as a ritual, farmers used to start the harvest by cutting some portion of their crop with sickles. I don’t recall there being any major disruption in harvest and procurement of wheat in the region barring some delays, say by three to four days, due to weather or other local factors in some pockets.”
“Today, the farmers are scared as the situation is unprecedented. Also, the area under wheat and average yields have gone up manifold in the past few decades. Therefore, farmers are anxious to harvest and sell their produce quickly to focus on the next crop,” the 91-year-old academic, who is now chancellor of the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, further stated.
Plant pathologist and former vice-chancellor of PAU, Prof Kirpal Singh Aulakh said the situation caused by Covid-19 is catastrophic and farmers of Punjab have never faced such a scenario before.
“Even during the World Wars, harvest of wheat remained unaffected as India was not largely affected. However, coronavirus has affected everyone across the globe. We pray that the situation improves soon as farmers will be worried about subsequent farm operations besides harvest and wheat procurement,” he said.
The area under wheat and average yields have gone up substantially in Punjab and Haryana over the past six decades, making huge quantity of production surplus, which is bought by the Union government for its social welfare schemes under the public distribution system (PDS).
For the 2019-20 crop year, wheat acreage in Punjab is 35.08 lakh hectares while in Haryana it is about 25 lakh hectares. The estimated output of wheat in Punjab and Haryana is around 182 lakh metric tonnes and 125 LMT respectively, which makes procurement of the produce an enormous task in both states with several government agencies involved.

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On Baisakhi, farmers pray for smooth harvest in Punjab - Times of India
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