A good monsoon can rob cotton and soyabean farmers a part of their profit, that is if the rainfall is not spaced out so as to give the fields sufficient moisture as well as sunlight.
The current spell of rains in Adilabad district is a case in point, as the 42 per cent excess rainfall so far has resulted in fields witnessing heavy weeding, making farmers invest more to remove them.
“I have already spent Rs. 15,000 on removing the weeds. Usually, I spend only about Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 5,000 for this kind of work on my nine-acre land,” said cotton farmer Gangadhar Shinde of Kokasmannu in Ichoda mandal, adding that there is hardly any respite from rains since the last 15 days.
The rainfall has also caused loss to farmer by way of loss of nascent plants wherever the water flowed through the fields. “Excess rainfall and lack of sunlight for a long period has also resulted in stunted growth of plants at many places, and we would need extra dose of fertilisers if the rains continue with the same tempo,” added Addi Ramchander Reddy, also a cotton farmer from Jamidi village in Tamsi mandal.
Not all bad news
The heavy weeding of fields, however, has brought a good amount of work for women labourers, as weeding operations cannot be conducted using a plough in the highly-moist black cotton soil.
There are an estimated 2 lakh women in the district who get seasonal employment as agricultural labourers, each earning an average of about Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 15,000 for the 150-day employment during the six-month cotton season and the concurrent 90-day soyabean crop period.
The labourers, nevertheless, complain that they are working for lesser number of days owing to the prolonged spell of rain. “We cannot enter fields in these conditions,” said Balera Vasantha of Bazarhatnoor mandal headquarter village.
“We are getting paid only Rs. 120 per day, which is not commensurate with the effort we put in,” said Potharaju Lavanya, another labourer from the same village. The case was worse at Gimma in Jainad mandal, where women labourers said they received a wage of Rs. 100 for a 7-hour stint in the fields removing weeds.
I have already spent Rs. 15,000 on removing the weeds. Usually, I spend only about Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 5,000 for this kind of work on my nine-acre land.
Gangadhar Shinde,cotton farmer
