NASHIK: Due to the timely rainfall this year, the Kharif season’s agriculture work has speeded up. Many farmers even needed to opt for resowing as excessive rains damaged earlier seeds’ germination process.However, many weeds have come up in sown crops like maize, soybeans, sugarcane and other crops. Farmers cannot afford the increased labour costs and therefore, are spraying herbicide unwillingly in their fields.
The farmers are in a dilemma as on one side, labourers’ daily wages have skyrocketed, and on the other, the price of herbicides has increased. Also, with fake companies entering the market, farmers’ concern has increased.
Compared to the previous year, the prices of herbicides have increased more than twofold. The price of herbicides is due to the fact that a specific type of herbicide burns a specific plant, and various kinds of weeds grow in one field. Therefore, farmers are worried and can’t decide which herbicide to spray. Some farmers are spraying different types of herbicides together on the advice of shopkeepers. As many farmers are not getting results even after spraying herbicides, such farmers have to bear the financial burden and work hard to monitor the crops.
Also, expert farmers expressed doubts regarding the adverse effect of herbicides on crops and land and a need to properly guide farmers in this regard. On behalf of the government’s agriculture department, the farmers should be guided appropriately regarding the spraying of herbicides, and the government should also bring control regarding the price of herbicides by advising the farmers on the usage and quantity of herbicides.
Many farmers, including Pundalik Surwade, a progressive farmer, have demanded that farmers should get good quality herbicides at a low price and under proper guidance. Without timely solutions and guidance, farmers have expressed that agricultural land’s texture will get damaged; and they will suffer from a financial crunch.
