CHAKWAL: Ahmad Nawaz is a small farmer in Chakwal who cultivated wheat on four acres.

“I have got my crop accumulated in the field for threshing after getting it harvested but for the last three days I am trying to find a thresher,” he told Dawn.

Mr Nawaz would not haggle with the thresher owner on the rate as his foremost woe is to get the heap of wheat threshed.

“This is not the time of wrangling over the rates of threshing because if I argue with the owner he would simply refuse saying I have plenty of other customers in waiting.”

He said he can’t afford any delay in threshing as if the accumulated wheat comes under rain it would not only be delayed to be threshed but would also cause additional labour for getting it dried.

Like Mr Nawaz, all farmers in Potohar region particularly small farmers who do not have their own threshers, have no other option but to surrender to the thresher owners.

Diesel which was being sold at Rs122 per litre in May 2019 is now selling at Rs80 per litre. However, the benefits of the fall in the price has failed to reach small farmers as thresher owners continue to charge the same rate of last year.

“Last year, the rate of wheat threshing was between Rs2,200 and Rs2,500 and this year the rate is also same,” said Khalid Mehmood, a farmer from Khai village.

Assistant commissioners (ACs) in Chakwal have issued specified rate lists for wheat harvesting and threshing but they themselves do not know under what law they would proceed against violators.

A few days ago, a notification issued by ACs of all the five tehsils in Chakwal notified simple reaper at Rs1,300 per hour, harvesting by combined reaper which also ties the swaths at Rs2,800 per hour, harvesting by combined harvester which also threshes the crop at Rs1,200 per hour and threshing by thresher at Rs2,000.

These rates were notified before the reduction in fuel prices but the district administration has not yet revised them.

According to sources, thresher owners are charging from Rs2,200 to Rs2,500 per hour. The simple reaper owners are charging Rs1,500 to Rs1,700, combined reaper owners Rs3,500 to Rs4,000 per hour and in some cases at Rs4,000 per acre while in one hour 2.5 acres of crop can be harvested. However, combined harvester owners are charging from Rs1,000 to Rs1,300.

When contacted, Assistant Commissioner Chakwal Muzaffar Mukhtar said: “Though I have notified the rates just to sensitise the machinery owners but in fact there is no specific law under which action could be taken against the violators.”

He said he had received almost 10 complaints about violation of the rates issued by him so far.

“Neither the tractor owners come under price control laws nor the district admin has any power to regulate them as there is not proper mechanisation,” said AC Kallar Kahar Mohammad Muratza Malik.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2020