With the onset of paddy harvest, farmers in Mysuru are now being persuaded to employ manual labour for harvesting instead of deploying machine harvesters for accruing sufficient fodder quantity.
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Though harvester machines have made it easy for the farmers in the wake of labour shortage, the authorities, especially from the Animal Husbandry Department, which is monitoring fodder availability in the district, are speaking to farmers for employing workers for harvesting paddy so that there was no loss of dry paddy fodder (rice straw) for animal feeds. This was important especially in the wake of drought and ensured sustained fodder availability until May next year.
Sources said the appeal has been made with the district declared drought-affected and precautions had to be taken to ensure there was no shortage in the months ahead.
Commonly, harvester machines are deployed for paddy harvest considering their convenience because of the issue over labour availability. “As the State was in the grip of an acute drought, farmers can consider saving fodder as machine harvesting cannot yield fodder,” they add.