Paddy harvesting season cheers up indebted farmers

The start of the paddy harvesting season has brought a smile to the faces of smallholders and peasants who eagerly wait for this moment as it provides them a chance to pay off their debts.

Muhammad Aslam, a landowner, has hired a large number of peasants, including men, women and children, to harvest his paddy crop at a farmland in the Larr region of Sindh.

Usually, farmers are tasked with arranging the workforce for paddy harvesting, however, the landowner shoulders responsibility for arranging food and shelter for them during their stay at paddy fields.

“From cultivation to harvesting… the journey is never easy. Sometimes, the hopes are very high and sometimes we think we have lost it,” said Allah Bux Jatt, a farmer, who is hopeful that this time he will pay off his debt.

From Jamshoro to Sujawal, the districts in the Larr region are home to paddy producers and also provide a major source of income for the locals, especially after a large number of growers in these districts have stopped cultivating sugarcane owing to unsuitable prices and indifferent attitude of sugar mills owners towards the cane growers.