Arhtiyas, labourers stare at losses due to poor yield
KARNAL: After farmers, now arhtiyas and mandi labourers of Haryana are staring at huge losses caused by the poor wheat yield this harvesting season.
The poor arrival in mandis is going to affect the income of the arhtiyas and labourers by 30-40% as their earnings are based on foodgrains procured on government’s record in the agriculture produce market committees (APMCS).
“Farmers associated with us brought only 5,000 bags of wheat this harvesting season against the 10,000 bags procured from our shop last year. This will reduce our earnings by 50% as we get 2.5% commission on the procured wheat,” said Praveen Kumar, an arhtiyas of Karnal’s Nilokheri mandi.
Another commission agent Ajaib Singh, of Indri grain market, said, “Besides farmers, it is going to be a tough year for arhtiyas and labourers. Since arrival at the shop is nearly 40% less than last year, we are not even able to earn the expenses.”
Moreover, direct payment to farmers has also added to the woes of arhtiyas as they said since the payment is directly going into bank accounts of farmers, most of them are unable to even return the interest on the advance that they have taken to nurture the crop.
Similarly, thousands of migrant labourers associated with cleaning, loading and unloading of food grains in mandis are also bearing the brunt of poor harvest. “Every year, we used to return home (in Bihar) after harvest. But this year, we have to stay back in search of work to earn more as we could not send enough money to our families back home,” said Chandan Kumar, a mandi labour contractor in Karnal.
As per information, labourers get Rs 13.75 per quintal from the government for unloading, cleaning and dressing of foodgrain bags. Besides, they get around Rs 10 per quintal from farmers for cleaning if the foodgrains are not clean as per the norms.
Another mandi labourer Kishori Lal has termed it another setback to the labourers after the Covid-19 pandemic and demanded the government to announce some relief for the labourers by increasing the labour charges.
The figures provided by officials of the state agriculture marketing board revealed over 30% less arrival of wheat in mandis of Karnal this year as 5.89 lakh MT wheat has arrived in district till April 26 against 8.49 lakh MT of last year on the same day. Even the day’s arrival has reduced to only 2,462 MT compared to 37,671 MT of last year.