Coimbatore: Farmers in the Sulur block are having a difficult time find farm labourers.
Horticulture plants similar to tomatoes, brinjal and girls finger and vegetables cultivated in the area want common care or would fall prey to predators similar to peacocks, the farmers say. Labourers also are needed to harvest the produce regularly.
However, it has turn into difficult to find people for work. While aged labourers like to work for the scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which assures no less than 100 days of guaranteed salary employment in a fiscal, more youthful employees like to work in industries, as they get paid higher, says S Jeevanandam, a farmer from Nadupalayam in Sulur, who cultivates tomatoes and beetroots on his two-acre farm. “Even if labourers conform to work at the farm, they call for top wages, which are not reasonably priced.”
Elderly people like to work under the government scheme as it is less taxing than farm work. Younger labourers prefer commercial work as they get paid about Rs 500 an afternoon compared to Rs 400 they get from farm work. Women running in factories get Rs 400 compared to Rs 200-250.
The farmers need agricultural labour to be brought under the scheme. AS Babu, a farmer and a consultant of the Tamil Nadu Politically Unaffiliated Farmers Association, stated if farm labourers are supplied under the 100-day salary labour scheme, with the Rs 150-200 pay, the farmers were ready to pay the rest to make up an afternoon’s salary.
Horticulture plants similar to tomatoes, brinjal and girls finger and vegetables cultivated in the area want common care or would fall prey to predators similar to peacocks, the farmers say. Labourers also are needed to harvest the produce regularly.
However, it has turn into difficult to find people for work. While aged labourers like to work for the scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which assures no less than 100 days of guaranteed salary employment in a fiscal, more youthful employees like to work in industries, as they get paid higher, says S Jeevanandam, a farmer from Nadupalayam in Sulur, who cultivates tomatoes and beetroots on his two-acre farm. “Even if labourers conform to work at the farm, they call for top wages, which are not reasonably priced.”
Elderly people like to work under the government scheme as it is less taxing than farm work. Younger labourers prefer commercial work as they get paid about Rs 500 an afternoon compared to Rs 400 they get from farm work. Women running in factories get Rs 400 compared to Rs 200-250.
The farmers need agricultural labour to be brought under the scheme. AS Babu, a farmer and a consultant of the Tamil Nadu Politically Unaffiliated Farmers Association, stated if farm labourers are supplied under the 100-day salary labour scheme, with the Rs 150-200 pay, the farmers were ready to pay the rest to make up an afternoon’s salary.
Horticulture farmers in Sulur face labour shortage
![Horticulture farmers in Sulur face labour shortage]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
April 24, 2019
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