A Reason for Smile

A large number of men, women and children have been brought to a farmland by Mohammad Aslam, a landowner to harvest his paddy crop as the season of harvesting brings Eid-like happiness to the faces of poor labourers and farmers, waiting eagerly for this day.

Usually, farmers are tasked to arrange the labour force for harvesting the paddy, however, the landowner shoulders the responsibility of providing them food and shelter during their stay at the farmland.

"From paddy cultivation to harvesting, the journey is never easy. Sometimes the hopes are very high and sometimes we think we have lost it"; says Allah Bux Jatt, a farmer who is hopeful that this time he will pay back all his previous debt.

The districts of the Larr region from Jamshoro to Sujawal are home to paddy cultivation during the Kharif season and a major source of income for the locals, particularly after a large number of growers in these districts have stopped cultivating sugarcane owing to unsuitable prices and indifferent attitude of sugar mills owners towards the cane growers.

Muhammad Bachal Malah, who himself is a farmer said, 'We borrow money from our landlords to arrange shelter for ourselves and manage the household and this is the time when we try to pay that amount back from the share we get'.

"Some landlords who do not trust their farmers deduce the amount borrowed from their share"; he said in a playful manner.

After the process of paddy cultivation ends, the next colossal task for farmers is to protect paddy from pests and diseases and it is probably the most cumbersome stage during the paddy production.

"Finding certified seeds and pesticides is a difficult job for a grower. Now we don't know how much a pesticide will be beneficial for the harvest. Sometimes it becomes devastating for the paddy," reveals Bachal.

He further said that though the small growers, as well as big landlords, were trying to increase the productivity of paddy by using different methods, its productivity had reduced, compared to the past.

The Sindh Government must take corrective measures for increasing the productivity of paddy to facilitate all those people who are affiliated with it.