Agricultural labour shortage in Mahottari

Mahottari, Nov 19: The farmers in the district are swamped with the activities to harvest paddy and cultivate cash crops.

Paddy is the major crop. Cutting paddy, drying up, threshing, and storing are the activities for completing its harvest. In addition to harvesting the major crop, the farmers are busy cultivating lands and sowing seeds of wheat and legumes. Other cash crops, such as potatoes and sugarcane, are also planted in this season.

However, the farmers are worried about a shortage of labor at this peak season. Some have been over with paddy harvest, while some are drying up the paddy in fields. Similarly, some fields are still with golden rice ready for harvest. Immediately after the paddy harvest, the farmers cultivate the land for cash crops, utilizing land moisture for germination.

“Thanks to the weather this year, we have a good harvest. There is adequate rice yield,” said an octogenarian farmer, Dipak Bahadur Phuyal from Ramnagar of Bhangaha-4. He, however, worried, “There is an acute shortage of labor.

The paddy is ripe and ready for harvest, which needs immediate labor. Even the cultivation of winter crops requires additional labor. Yogendra Mahato from Gaushala-12 also said the additional workforce was required as it was the peak season of harvest, but the lack of sufficient labor had made them weary and full of hassles. He shared that the laborers skilled at harvesting rice and tilling land had left for Punjab and Haryana India for better jobs, which caused a shortage in the district.

The active people from the Musahar and Bantar communities, who are skilled at agricultural work, had left for abroad. There are only children, women, and elderly ones in their communities now. However, Ram Julum Bantar from Karpurganj of Bhangaha-5 said the active workforce in the age group of 15-19 years left home because the wage in the village was too low to run a family.

Similarly, some of the youths who were able to secure loans from highbrows are in the Gulf countries. This trend has left the farmers jittery in the district of late. It has resulted in lessening agricultural activities. As recent as three decades back, the farmers who kept three teams of oxen and were devoted to agriculture are now selling land and migrating to the cities.

Bachchula Mahato from Pashupatinagar Banarjhulla of Bardibas-9 explained, “Why leave the lands unused when there was an acute shortage of workers? Children also left the country for higher education. Some lands are given on lease, and we packed up.”

The number of people like Mahato is growing in the district of late. If the agricultural workforce continues leaving the country for better employment abroad, the district will be forced to leave sizable land untilled, warned Binod Thakur, a 55-year-old farmer from Krishnapur, Bardibas-6.

According to the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Mahottari, there are 70,000 hectares of agricultural land in the district. Most of the lands are cultivable for three-season crops in a year. —RSS