Farmers in the region of Maharashtra’s Aurangabad allege that rising fuel prices and labour costs have made cultivation prohibitively expensive. According to them, farmers have begun to use different approaches to save costs in the current climate. Farming machinery requires gasoline, and cultivators frequently have to rent the equipment.
A farmer named Bhagwan Bogane who is studying BSc in Agriculture and who is the owner of a tractor said that in order to plough one acre of land, a tractor consumes about six gallons of diesel. Earlier, this much diesel used to cost him Rs.400. However, the price has already risen to approximately Rs 650. Farmers who rent machinery have to spend Rs 1,800 to plow an acre of land now, whereas they only paid Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,100 till last year, he added.
Another farmer named, Deepak Joshi, stated that cultivators are increasingly looking for methods to save costs. They have begun spreading seeds without using plough.
On an acre, they spend roughly Rs 1,000 to clear weeds and unwanted vegetation. However, they no longer pluck the grass and leave it to degrade on the field. This helped them to save money on the chemicals they need to put in the soil to improve yield, Joshi remarked. According to him, rising labour costs have made farming more expensive. He further explained that up until last year, farmers used to pay Rs 200 per day to each labourer, but the amount has now soared to Rs 400 per day.
Agriculture-based businesses are thriving, but farmers are not, Joshi asserted. In addition, he said that transporting products to markets has also become more expensive due to the increase in gasoline prices. According to Jagannath Kale, a fertilizer merchant from Aurangabad, the cost of fertilizers has increased.
In the previous Kharif season, a 25 kg bag of water-soluble fertilizer cost Rs 2,500 rupees. The prices are expected to double this year. District Superintendent Agriculture Officer Tukaram Mote said that the global fuel costs and environmental concerns have impacted farming, and expenses have increased.
