Roads for Threshing Harvest – Rural Agriculture in India
Road trips through villages of India bring me face to face with farming practices followed by farmers. Have you come across farmers using roads for threshing harvest? This is the state of rural Agriculture in India.
One common sight that I get to see while driving through the roads of Karnataka is the farmers spreading their harvest on the roads. The farmers spread the sheaves for threshing. The heavy vehicles moving over these sheaves separate the husks from the grains.
Each time a stretch of such spreads appears from a distance we had to slow down. The farmers seemed to be totally unmindful of the fast moving vehicles. As soon as a vehicle crosses, couple of farmers would come, upturn and rearrange the sheaves so that all grains get separated.This is how threshing of harvest is done in rural parts of India.
In the evenings they can be seen collecting the grains. Some of them can be seen winnowing the grains. They drop the grains from a height; winds blow away the light chaff. This is the state of rural agriculture, no sign of any kind of mechanized farming.
While I don’t have any objection to my vehicle being of some use to them, I am really concerned about safety. The vehicle can skid causing harm to both parties. The wastage factor is definitely very high in this process, with the grains getting mixed up with soil and dirt. And what about the cleanliness factor of the grains?
Agriculture alone plays the most important role in the Indian economy. Over 70 per cent of the rural households depend on agriculture. It offers employment to over 60% of Indian population. If only they were helped out with more mechanized versions of tools for farming the results would be tremendous.
Wish the concerned official reads this!
A common scenario when crossing villages….yes, a major safety hazard. I’ve seen bikers skid and get injured.
With the paltry sums farmers are paid by the multiple middle men involved in agricultural economy, they can’t afford anything. Even this is unaffordable if you consider the labour day wage.
The wastage factor is definitely very high in this process, with the grains getting mixed up with soil and dirt . Agree but they can save their money ( they dont have ) by not using machines . So they choose easy option. Nice tour with rural touch.
Dangerous but also rather ingenious, getting the traffic to do the hardest bit of the work for them. Still…
congratulations on your POTW
Excellent photos and views of daily life!
Wonderful post and great photos!!
Congrats on your POTW!!
Hugs
SueAnn
How many of us really stop by to think and care about these people, who contribute a lot for our well-being and life? Good post and good pics!
I used to see this all the time as a child when we drove through rural India. I guess nothing has changed.
Kamini.
We could never forget this sheaves spread in a road which ceased our car once, where these hay surrounds the wheels to struck one early night in a rural village. Good capture!
Wow, that's one dangerous way to separate the grains.
I saw grain being threshed in exactly the same way when I visited China. Since I grew up on a farm with mechanized equipment for most jobs, I found this process to be both amazing and fantastic.
I wonder if it really does save a lot of work. I imagine they still have to separate the kernels from the waste…but I have no idea how they do that.
this is true in rural philippines as well.
Awesome captures Indrani.
Happy weekend.
Your photos are wonderful. It sure is a lot of hard work.
Hard working people and fantastic these colorful pictures.
Greetings, Joop