Delhi’s Pollution and Panjab Farmers’ Woes

This season, Panjab’s wheat, potato, and kinnow farmers are suffering. Given that Delhi’s air pollution in October is largely (but wrongly) blamed on farmers who burn the paddy straw after harvest, some Panjab farmers decided to use the Super Seeder for wheat sowing. Now they are reporting Pink Stem Borer infestation in the crop. The pest attack has been detected in the fields around Muktsar, Lehragaga, and Sangrur. Farmers say leftover straw residue prevents the insecticide spray from reaching the crop and it becomes a breeding ground for the pink stem borer. An affected farmer from Muktsar said, ‘We were portrayed as criminals and FIRs were registered against us for burning residue, but now nobody is helping us tackle the problem.’ Meanwhile, even in late Dec, Delhi’s AQI remains 400. In a full-blown attack by the Late Blight disease, more than 50% of potato crop has suffered extensive damage leading to heavy losses for the farmers who had opted for diversification instead of growing wheat after paddy. Farmers from Machhiwara, Samrala, Khanna, Amloh, Nabha, Hoshiarpur, and other areas said potatoes were rotting in the field even before farmers could harvest them. Also, the wholesale rate of potatoes has crashed in the market. This year’s ‘king fruit - kinnow’ growers from Panjab are happy with the good yield. The produce is expected to be 13.50MT. However, farmers are staring at low prices in the open market: Rs 6 to 10 per kg — as compared to Rs 20 to 25 per kg last year. This is another example why farmers need Minimum Support Price (MSP).