Power shortage hits agriculture in Haryana

Agriculture in Haryana has been badly hit by power shortage in the state. Farmers who depend on the power supply to run their tubewells are getting power on alternate days for just four hours.

According to Mam Chand of Patrehri village of Tehsil Naraingarh, power supply is available for four hours in two days and even that is erratic. There is no fixed schedule. The farmers of this belt are mostly small and marginal ones and cannot afford to run gensets to extract underground water.

Rajpal of the same village lost his entire sugarcane crop due to insufficient irrigation. "We get indebted because our crop gets destroyed for lack of irrigation," he said.

The farmers rule out the assistance from the agriculture departments and banks regarding any extension services. The plight of farmers in most of the districts is deplorable.

Haryana does not have any natural resource of water and the growing power shortage has made agriculture loss-making.

The slightly better off farmers in the rice belt of Haryana (in districts Kurukshetra and Karnal) run generators on tractor engines. This costs about Rs 180 per day.

The farmers in the village Lohar Majra in district Kurukshetra said the returns had been dwindling due to falling land productivity. "We need to use more diammonium phosphate (DAP) that costs Rs 500 per 50 kg. We use 1.5 quintal of DAP per acre to retain the productivity of land. Similarly, urea costs Rs 275 per 50 kg and more use of chemicals has raised the investment in agriculture."

The farmers expect the policy makers to empower them by providing the information on ways and means to raise the productivity of land.

Even the debt waiver announced by Finance Minister P Chidambram failed to raise their spirits. Nothing will change until proper measures were put in place for timely bank assistance, new canals, sufficient power supply and adequate marketing infrastructure.