NOWSHERA: Farmers in Nowshera are facing new difficulties during the wheat harvesting season after the recent increase in diesel prices in the country. Thresher owners have increased the threshing rates of wheat on their own, causing serious problems for local farmers.
According to the report, thresher owners have significantly increased the rates per hour or per sack, citing the high cost of diesel. Farmers say that on the one hand, climate change and heat waves have affected the crop, while on the other hand, the rising costs of threshers have wiped out their hard-earned earnings.
Farmers have demanded that the government and district administration control thresher rates and provide relief in diesel prices so that they can manage their crops, and there is no risk of food shortage in the country. Otherwise, farmers will face huge financial losses due to rising costs.
Local farmers say they are currently facing a “double whammy”. On the one hand, there is pressure to dispose of the crop quickly due to the intense heat and heat wave, so that the grains do not get wasted, and on the other hand, the cost of threshers is getting out of their reach. Small landowners, who had bought fertilizers and seeds on loans, are no longer in a position to bear the high cost of harvesting.
According to the report, there is no clear mechanism by the district administration to determine and implement the official rates of threshers. Farmers told Fazal Nabi that if the district administration does not intervene immediately and rein in the thresher owners, there will be an economic massacre of farmers, and the area under wheat sowing may also decrease next year.
They demanded that agricultural tube wells be arranged for farmers and Deputy Commissioner of Nowshera should immediately fix the permissible rates in collaboration with the thresher owners and take action against the violators.
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