Punjab wheat farmers await compensation as yield per acre reduces to half
India Today
The wheat farmers in Punjab have threatened to stage protests as neither the state government provided the compensation nor the Union government relaxed the norms to procure the shrivelled grains.
The wheat farmers in Punjab have been left high and dry by both the state and the central governments. Neither the state government provided the compensation nor the Union government relaxed the norms to procure the shrivelled grains. The farmers have now threatened to stage protests if the compensation was not paid.
Surjit Singh of Karudi village in Mohali district had harvested between 22 to 24 quintals per hectare but this time he couldn't even harvest half of last year.
"This year, I was only able to harvest between 8 to 10 quintals per acre. Some of the farmers even gave half of the crop to the combine (harvester machine) owners to save expenses. I was not even able to recover the input costs and the loss is more than Rs 3.5 lakhs," said Surjit Singh.
Another farmer, Balvinder Singh, of the same village told India Today that no compensation has been made by the Punjab government so far.
"We have demanded compensation of Rs 500 per quintal. The yield is not even half what we wasted during last season," said Balvinder Singh.
CM Bhagwant Mann, during his meeting with the affected cotton farmers in Bathinda, had assured that the state government would release the compensation on a priority basis before the survey (Girdauri) was completed to save the farmers from hardships. However, the wheat farmers whose crop was damaged by the dry spell and heat-wave conditions are yet to be compensated.
The farmers in many districts have lost over 20 per cent of their crops. The absence of favourable weather conditions shrivelled wheat grains.
