In a heartwarming example of community spirit, 48 farmers came together to help a fellow farmer save his paddy crop after he accidentally sprayed a wrong pesticide on his fields at Kalalwala village in Bathinda district.The farmers gathered at the fields of 35-year-old Kuldeep Singh on August 15 and manually cut the damaged paddy leaves with sickles. A task that would have been almost impossible for him to complete alone was finished by the group in just three hours.Kuldeep owns nearly two acres of land and had taken another 4.5 acres on lease. He said the problem started when he borrowed a tractor-mounted sprayer that was used earlier for moong crops. “There was some pesticide left in the pipe of the sprayer. When I sprayed the pesticide meant for paddy on August 13, the two pesticides got mixed. The paddy crop started drying,” he said.Kuldeep noticed the damage the next day. After realising that he could not handle the situation alone, he sought help from other farmers. “We were 48 people and cut the dried leaves manually using sickles. It took us around three hours. Had I been alone, I could not have completed the work,” he said.Another farmer, also named Kuldeep Singh, said the villagers simply wanted to help their friend avoid a bigger loss. “We did what was needed to save our friend from major losses. If we had not helped, his entire crop could have been damaged. We have at least minimised his losses,” he said.