Labour crunch headache for groundnut farmers in Odisha's Jajpur district

Sources said a large number of migrant labourers from Keonjhar, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj districts come to Jajpur during the harvesting season.
Representational Image.
Representational Image.

JAJPUR: Acute labour shortage triggered by the lockdown has affected the harvest of groundnut crops in the district. Thousands of farmers who have grown groundnut in their farm land as rabi crop are facing a lot of hardship to harvest it because of labour shortage.

While local daily wagers are unable to move out of their homes, migrant labourers from neighbouring districts have also left for their native places. Sources said a large number of migrant labourers from Keonjhar, Bhadrak, Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj districts come to Jajpur during the harvesting season.

Sadasiva Rout, a farmer, said, "I had grown groundnut over two acre of land and the crop is ready for harvesting. However, there are no labourers to perform the task. Besides, we are also not able to go out since the last one week due to the restrictions. The lockdown will continue for two more weeks. The crop will be damaged if not harvested soon."

Farmers of Rasulpur, Bari, Binjharpur, Jajpur, Dharmasala, Barachana and Dasarathapur blocks cultivate groundnut over 30,000 hectare of land in every rabi season. This year, only 35 per cent of the crops have been harvested while the rest is still standing in fields.

The affected farmers urged the district administration to allow them to harvest their crops by adhering to social distancing and lockdown guidelines.

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