Daily Times

A large number of people who belong to villages and working in different cities of the country including Rawalpindi and Islamabad have moved back to their native villages to help their families in wheat crop harvesting and threshing, reveals a survey conducted by APP.

Ghulam Akbar, a resident of Muzaffargrah who was working here as a mason told APP via telephone that harvesting, threshing of wheat was at its peak and there were chances of an early close of this season. He said as the season of wheat harvesting comes near every one belonging to agricultural areas prefers to go back from cities to help their families in harvesting and threshing of wheat crops.

“I agreed that we earn a reasonable amount while working in cities as mason or laborer, but wheat was an important life item for the survival of our family for the whole year,”, he said.

He said that wheat harvest is an annual festival for many families, as they arrange their annual wheat stock in the season. A family of three can easily earn up to five maunds of wheat (Rs 8,000) per day, he added. He claimed that this year’s production of wheat was wonderful as compared to last years and farmers getting 40 maund to 50 maund per arc which is a blessing of Almighty Allah.

He also claimed that farmers in Punjab would earn extra bucks as the Punjab government increased the minimum support price for wheat to Rs 1800 per 40 Kg from Rs1400. “This three-to-five-week activity leaves a family with wheat stock for a year and enough cash to sustain for three months,” Ahsan maintained.

Another resident of Layyah, Shabbir Hussain, a 35-year-old farmer, said they are a family of six who can easily harvest up to two acres a day (10 maunds of wheat per day). “We start harvesting early in the morning around 5am before taking a break at around 1pm,” he said. “Our work then resumes at 3pm and continues till 7pm.”

Talking to APP, an official of the agriculture department confirmed that the wheat harvest, threshing and procurement processes were in full swing as gunny bags were being distributed across the Punjab.