Farmers rely on unemployed labourers to complete wheat threshing, transportation.

Byline: Nabeel Anwar Dhakku

CHAKWAL -- Farmers in the Potohar region are relying on labourers rendered jobless by the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to thresh the remainder of their wheat crop and transport its straw to their homes.

'More than 80pc of the wheat threshing has been completed in the Potohar region, but many farmers are still trying to store wheat straw,' Dr Mohammad Khalid, assistant director agriculture in Chakwal, told Dawn.

Wheat straw is considered a vital food item for cattle during the dry months of April, May and June when green fodder is not available. Farmers mix wheat straw, cotton seed cake and ground wheat as well as wheat husk mixed in the green fodder for livestock.

Ghulam Shabbir, a resident of Metro village, bought a heap of wheat husk for Rs65,000. On Thursday, after hearing the rain forecast, he bought three tractor-trolleys and hired 11 labourers to transport the husk to his home before it began raining in the district.

Mr Shabbir told Dawn that it has become a lot easier to hire labourers since many people are looking for work.

Scores of workers from other districts have come to Chakwal in the wake of the lockdown, and local workers are also making the most of the agricultural jobs available.

Gul Zaman, 52, used to make a living selling spare parts of machinery used in spinning mills in a flea market. But since the lockdown he, along with many other daily-wage workers, have seen their opportunities come to a halt.

The situation is worse in industrial cities such as Faisalabad, Mr Zaman's hometown. He said that after the lockdown left him without a job, he 'began to think about an alternative'.

Mr Zaman and 10 of his relatives came to Chakwal, where they found work threshing wheat and transporting husk to farmers' homes.

In Faisalabad, wheat is harvested...

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