GUJAR KHAN: Farmers have begun harvesting wheat in the Potohar region amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus as well as unpredictable weather.

Typically, workers travel from various districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, such as Peshawar, Mansehra, Abbotabad, Swabi and Swat, to take up harvesting and threshing jobs during this season, as the wheat harvest in the Potohar region is earlier than in these areas.

Labourers in Rajanpur, Bahawalpur, Okara and Vehari harvest the bumper crop earlier than the Potohar region, so they are also available for support at this time.

This time around, the situation is more difficult.

The lockdown on inter-district and inter-provincial public transport has affected the wheat harvest, but local sources said that some of the big farmers in the area have managed to bring in a good number of workers by sending private transport to KP and Punjab.

Local farmer Mohammad Rizwan said that workers were brought to Jatli and Mohrah in Gujar Khan at night from central Punjab.

He added that usually, caravans of threshing machines from Mansehra and adjoining areas in KP would be brought to the Potohar region during the harvesting season.

This time, some machines and tractors were secretly transported using large containers, as the open movement of such machinery is being intercepted by police and district authorities.

Chaudhry Rab Nawaz, a farmer from Daultala, said that engaging workers from KP and central Punjab was risky and there was no system for the testing of agriculture workers.

He feared that engaging workers from affected areas would cause Covid-19 to spread in the region, and stressed that awareness needs to be raised among farmers by district governments through villagelumberdarsto take special measures and precautions.

Farmer Raja Zain said that local workers were insufficient even though farmers were paying a daily wage of Rs800 a 20 kilogram bag of wheat for a day’s labour.

He said the uncertainty regarding the weather and unwanted rainfall is another reason for concern among Potohar farmers, forcing them to resort to rapid harvesting in Ramazan.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2020