Cotton farm ops in Warangal go kaput

BYPOLL IMPACT

Farmworkers are drafted for canvassing by political parties

• As such the labourers are reluctant to attend to cotton picking
• Farmers depend on manual harvesting of crop in the absence of machines

Parkal (Warangal): Cotton picking has come to a halt in a number of villages under Warangal Lok Sabha constituency courtesy hectic electioneering for the bypoll.

The farmers who completed first picking of cotton following Dasara festival are now getting ready for second harvest of the crop. But they cannot secure the farmworkers, mainly the women workers.

The political parties have drafted villagers, particularly the farmworkers, for election campaign, like holding rallies and door-to-door visits. The labourers have readily agreed to work for one or the other political party, leaving the farmers in lurch.

Since the cotton picking is carried out manually in the absence of harvest machines, the farmers are forced to rely on manual picking of cotton. As the labourers are shying away from cotton picking, the cotton fields in full bloom are now remained deserted.

The situation is similar in all villages of Parkal, Bhupalpally, Palakurthy, Wardhannapet and Station Ghanpur and villages under Warangal East and West Assembly segments.

“I have been looking for labourers to harvest cotton in my three acre land for the last one week, but I could find none,” complained a farmer called Kunamalla Balraju of Mogilicherla village of Geesukonda mandal under Parkal assembly segment.

With the weather suddenly turning cloudy in view under the cyclone impact, even a small amount of rain could damage cotton. Besides, if the cotton is left on the plant for long period its weight gets reduced, he told The Hans India on Monday.

He said usually a labourer is paid Rs 200 a day to pick the cotton. The political parties hiring the labourers for campaigning are also paying the same, besides offering lunch. ‘As they naturally choose easy work, the labourers giving a miss to farm work’, he added. The farmers growing vegetables, turmeric, chilli and paddy too are facing the same hardship.

It is the time to de-weed turmeric and chilli fields. The paddy farmers with small holdings go for manual harvesting of crop and they are also facing labour crunch, said a farmer Mote Ravinder of Orugonda of Atmakur mandal.‘We can do nothing, except waiting for the byelection to be over’ he added.

By James Edwin