SAPLING SOLIDARITY

Punjab and Haryana are witnessing a first-of-its-kind farmer solidarity movement. Cultivators in flood-hit villages of the states have received free supply of paddy saplings from their counterparts in safer areas to tide over the losses and avoid a crop-less rice season. RAJU SAJWAN travels to the two states to document the help initiative.

- RAJU SAJWAN

FARMERS WERE in need of help. There was no question of refusing. Fields should not remain vacant," says Ashok Danoda, a farmer of Danoda village in Haryana's Jind district, and member of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, a coalition of farmer organisations from across the country. After Ashok found out that heavy rains on July 9-10 have flooded villages in Haryana and Punjab, he gave a phone call to Tejveer Singh, a farmer based in Haryana's Ambala district, and spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (Shaheed Bhagat Singh). "I had become friends with Tejveer during the farmer protest movement on Delhi borders in 2020. I called him on July 12 to offer supply of ration and items necessary for survival," says Ashok. "Tejveer responded that the villages can manage survival, but the paddy is destroyed and if they get saplings they can plant again. I immediately arranged for transfer of a part of saplings from my field. Our village provided saplings for over 300 hectares (ha)," Ashok adds.

Heavy rain in the first week of July caused widespread crop damage in Haryana and Punjab. A July 31, 2023, report by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs says 13 of Haryana's 22 districts and 14 of Punjab's 23 districts were affected by floods, with crop loss reported on 216,384 ha and 25,530 ha in the states, respectively.