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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Cropping patterns: Diversification dilemma on the ground -Anju Agnihotri Chaba

Cropping patterns: Diversification dilemma on the ground -Anju Agnihotri Chaba

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published Published on Mar 3, 2017   modified Modified on Mar 3, 2017
-The Indian Express

Punjab farmers seek to move away from paddy-wheat, but not the way policymakers want it

Jalandhar:
Crop diversification and moving away from the entrenched paddy-wheat cycle has been the buzzword among Punjab’s policymakers for at least two decades now. It will remain so even when the next government takes over in a couple of weeks’ time. But on the ground, farmers are still planting paddy during kharif and wheat in the rabi season as before. Some have gone in for diversification, but not the way policymakers, both in the state government and the Centre, would want them to. There’s no better example of this ‘diversification dilemma’ than spring season maize; and it should be an eye-opener for future policymaking.

Spring maize is currently being grown in about 30,000 hectares of Punjab, especially in the Doaba region covering Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr districts that also constitutes the state’s potato belt. It is planted from mid-February to mid-March, just after harvesting of potato. Spring maize’s popularity is precisely because it fits well into the potato cycle. A 95-110 day crop, it is harvested by June, well in time for planting of basmati/non-basmati paddy or even kharif maize. The latter crops are harvested in October, which is also potato planting time.

The above cropping cycle, however, is not viewed favourably by the authorities, who feel it doesn’t address the more fundamental problem of depleting water tables in the state. The Punjab government wants farmers to grow maize only in the kharif reason to replace water-guzzling paddy. “We aren’t keen to promote spring season maize, as it also consumes too much water,” says Jasbir Singh Bains, joint director of the state agriculture department.

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The Indian Express, 2 March, 2017, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/cropping-patterns-diversification-dilemma-on-the-ground-farmers-punjab-agriculture-4550138/


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