Shortage of agriculture labour hit the cotton
picking and hundreds acre of cotton fields are seen with plants full of cotton
bolls with flowering in the villages in the Adilabad district of Telangana.
The cotton bolls are remained in the agriculture
field and being dropped due to inordinate delay in picking.
There is a huge demand for agriculture labour for
cotton picking and farmers engaging them offering extra money. The price will
go up Rs 7 per kg cotton picking based on demand and price increases from first
picking to last picking.
Recently, two farmers fought over taking labourers with
them for cotton picking at Adilabad railway station. Farmers provide free
transportation to the agriculture labor and sometimes even free lunch. These
Maharashtra labourers come for cotton picking in mostly bordering mandals in
Nirmal and Adilabad divisions.
A farmer
Jangil Dashrath of Ichoda said Rs 6 per kg is paying for cotton picking comes
to Rs 6,000 if yield is 10 quintals cotton in one acre land and observed that
there was huge demand for the laborers due to their shortage.
He said they engaged Maharashtra labour as there was
huge demand for labourers for cotton picking as cotton crop reached harvesting
stage at a same time in the Agriculture fields in the villages.
Farmer L.T Chandrakanth Reddy of Bellur in Jainad
mandal said it was seen farmers waiting at bus stations and Adilabad railway
station for the Agriculture labor arriving from bordering Maharashtra every
cotton season for cotton picking and this was every day activity for some of
the farmers due to shortage of labor.
He said total 20,000 laborers come in season peak to
Adilabad division alone from the bordering Maharashtra for cotton picking every
season and added that every day nearly 500 labourers come to Adilabad and some
of them go to their villages for some days and again come back and this
migration will begin in October and will go on till March every year.
Majority of the farmers do not get profits due to
high labor charges, low cotton price in the market and increased investments
costs in cotton cultivation, pest attack and low yield due to prolonged dry
spell. Each laborer picks 60-70 kg per day and earning an average Rs 350.
One can find nearly 100 labourers of Maharashtra in
each major village in Tasmi, Talamadugu, Bela, Jainad and Adilabad mandals
during cotton season and their numbers will decrease gradually from January
onward.
The local agriculture labourer will not work during
festival days like Pola, Dasara and Diwali and this coincide with the cotton picking
period.
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