HARIPUR: The agriculture office here on Tuesday fixed the per hour rates of the machinery to be used for reaping and threshing wheat in Haripur.

The move came as farmers accused the owners of harvesters of overcharging them.

In a letter to deputy commissioner Khan Mohammad, district officer agriculture Mumtaz Khan said the wheat harvesting season was about to start within next few days, and keeping in view the complaints of farmers about overcharging every year, the agriculture office had fixed the fresh rates for the purpose.

The new rates were notified during a meeting of the officials of the agriculture extension and engineering department.

The machinery owners were made bound to charge Rs3,800 per hour for threshing wheat and Rs4,200 per hour for reaping with binding of wheat bundles.

Mr Mumtaz said the rates were affordable for farmers and owners of machinery.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2024