ATTOCK, April 28: The rains before and after the sowing of the wheat crop had raised expectations of a good yield this year, but now farmers are worried that the frequent rain spells during the harvesting season may damage their crops and affect the yield.

Rain is very beneficial for the crop in the early stages, but during the harvesting season, it may damage the crop.

Not only does it hinder the harvesting and threshing process, but also decreases the quality of the wheat grain.

Farmers are worried that the rains might ruin their eight months of hard work and the compensation of their crop-growing expenses as the production of wheat would decrease.

A local farmer of Haji Shah Village, Masoom Ahmed, told Dawn that rain wetted the harvested crops, causing delay in the harvesting/thrashing process.

The wet crop cannot be processed by the thrashing machine and needs to be dried, for which farmers have to wait, he said.

“A minimum of one day is required to dry the crop if it is sunny. Otherwise, it may take even more,” he elaborated.

In case the harvested crop wets repeatedly, the quality of the grain and chuff decreases as the natural moisture level is affected.

Sometimes, the grain also becomes blackish if subjected to prolonged rain, he added.

Soon after harvesting, bundles of the crop lie in the fields under the open sky for thrashing, and provision of shelter to the harvested crop is impossible for every farmer.

Therefore, farmers are in a hurry to complete the harvesting/thrashing process.

“Once the thrashing process is completed, farmers heave a sigh of relief as the packed wheat bags are immediately shifted to stores,” Masoom Ahmed said.

According to the agriculture department, wheat is cultivated on almost 42,000 acres of the district, and the winter rain spells have left a positive impact on the wheat crop.

Furthermore, a good chuff production is also being expected, which is used by farmers to feed the livestock and is the main raw material in the paper mills.

Boost to daily wages jobs The unemployed and daily wage-earners also get sufficient work during the wheat harvesting and thrashing season, which started a month back and will continue till the end of the next month, it has been learnt.

The harvesting is mostly done by hand, and thus farmers want to engage the maximum number of people. After harvesting, labour is also required to shift the crop to the thrashing point and then to the stores.

Against this, workers receive Rs500 to Rs600 daily in addition to daily meals and some share of the wheat. Consequently, there is severe shortage of labour in other fields, especially in the construction field.

The two-month harvesting season gives a good opportunity to the unemployed and the workers in other sectors.

Even drivers and servants in urban areas go to their respective villages on leave for this purpose, it has been noticed.

Like the workers, people with thrashers, tractor trolleys and even donkey-carts are doing good businesses in these days.

Wheat purchase target The Punjab government had set the target of 20,000 metric ton (MT) wheat procurement from Attock district this year, starting May 5.

The district food department has been informed that seven procurement centres have been established in Attock, Faqirabad, Fatehjang, Basal, Jand, Pindigheb and Hasanabdal to procure wheat from the farmers.

These procurement centres would purchase wheat throughout the week directly from the farmers to discourage the role of the middle-men.

The food department will purchase the commodity from the farmers at Rs1,200 per 40kg with the provision of Rs7.50 per 100kg as handling and delivery charges.

Moreover, empty bags will be provided to the farmers under a first-come-first-serve policy.

As per procedure, farmer will pay cash for up to 50 bags at the procurement centres, while payments for more than 50 bags would be done via the farmer’s bank.

The quality of wheat would be judged at the time of the procurement, and should have 10pc moisture without any clay, stones and chuff.

Complaint cells to address the farmers’ grievances have also been setup at the procurement centers and the district food department. Farmers facing any problem can inform the concerned procurement centre on the toll-free number 0800-13535.