CHAKWAL, April 26: The Punjabi month of Bisakh (from mid April to mid May) brings happiness for farmers as in this month their hard toil bears fruit and the villagers carrying their sickles rush to the fields to harvest the major crops of Rabi. The villages present deserted look at day as all hustle and bustle shifts to the fields.
The people who do not own land reap the crops of farmers on lease and try their best to store wheat for their yearly requirement.
But this year, the month has brought worries for the farmers because the crops are not as luxuriant as they used to be in the past.
The dry spell in the previous months badly affected the crops except oilseeds and Chakwal and adjacent districts would have 50 per cent less than the average yield of wheat, gram and lentil, officials in Agriculture Department told Dawn.
The dry spell that continued throughout the winter has caused heavy loss to the poor farmers.
“We have to buy wheat this year as the crop is very poor”, says Tauseef Haider, a young farmer. “In past years, the crops were affected due to unfavourable weather but at least we had wheat that sufficed our annual requirement but this year we have to face extra financial burden”, he laments while tying a sheaf of wheat.
The poor farmers who do not have their own tractors are the worst hit by the dry spell as the money they have spent on ploughing their fields could not be returned. “It costs me Rs57,000 to prepare the fields for Rabi crops but the poor crop has dashed all my hopes”, says Walayat Hussain, a farmer of Chak Malook.
The Agriculture Department expected to have more than 200,000 tons of wheat out of 321,952 acres of cultivated land this year but it would hardly be able to achieve 50 per cent of the target.
“There would be 50 per cent less yield of wheat and other crops due to the dry spell”, Executive District Officer (EDO) Agriculture Liaquat Ali Sulehri told Dawn.
Majority of the farmers in the district could not use fertilisers while cultivating different crops due to their high prices. Besides, hike in diesel prices and excessive load shedding have also made life very difficult for the farmers.
The unbearable increase in oil and fertiliser prices do not correspond with the rates of their crops.Chakwal has 16 dams but none is benefiting the poor farmers as proper canals have not been built to irrigate the fields. “The water of all the dams gets wasted due to seepage and evaporation”, says Mr. Sulehri.
He said that his department was trying its best to provide maximum relief to the farmers despite limited resources. He urged the farmers to use dripping and sprinkling system to irrigate their fields as the alternative methods could overcome the effects of the dry spell.
District Agriculture Officer (Technical) Dr. Khalid Javed asked the farmers to focus on mustard crop in future. “Mustard needs less water and it could benefit the farmers a lot”, he maintained.