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Looking beyond paddy, finally by Sukhdeep Kaur

Punjab's attempts at diversification from water-guzzling paddy hasn’t made much headway. With looming desertification and reverse flow from water-logged blocks having brackish groundwater to areas where the groundwater table is fast depleting, the need to diversify has been underlined since long.

Even in a lean monsoon year (2009), there was a record harvest of the crop. Its acreage did not fall even last year when a major part of the paddy belt was inundated by floods. In both years, however, the high yield was due to diversification towards basmati — more out of compulsion than choice — as it can be sown late and requires lesser water.

But this year the area under paddy is pegged to fall by nearly one lakh hectares, as farmers shift to more remunerative crops out of choice.

The Punjab agriculture department, which keeps a conservative target area of 27 lakh hectares only to see it cross the mark every year, expects paddy to recede to 27.5 lakh hectares this year, from 28.2 lakh hectares in the last two years, with other crops stealing a march with higher returns. Leading with cotton, the area under other crops grown during the kharif months — sugarcane, maize, pulses and horticulture — in the state are likely to rise this year.

Punjab’s agriculture director B S Sidhu, however, says the fall in paddy area cannot be seen as signs of diversification.

Despite deterrents such as scarcity of farm hands in recent years owing to fall in migrant labour from UP and Bihar — paddy transplanatation is highly labour-intensive — and erratic supply of free power for running tubewells, paddy acreage did not come down.

“It is either driven by market prices or other conditions. Since cotton and pulses are fetching better prices, farmers are opting for them. Some farmers may opt out of paddy owing to high cost of farm labour. But in the year paddy MSP will be the most lucrative option, they will grow paddy,” he added.

Notably, in Punjab, farmers get no incentive for growing paddy. They get subsidy on certified seeds for wheat and pulses which are covered under the National Food Security Mission. The cultivation of the crop is, therefore, ruled by the MSP.

This year, area under cotton will touch 5.85 lakh hectares from 5.25 lakh hectares last year. That under maize, the third main crop in terms of acreage, has gone up to 1.7 lakh hectares this year against 1.53 lakh hectares last year. It also showed higher yield of 3.7 tonnes per hectare last year.

Area under sugarcane, too, is pegged to jump to 93,000 hectares from 60,000 hectares the previous year. However, in percentage terms, the biggest surge is in area under pulses, which, in three years, has risen from 22,000 hectares to 40,000 hectares last year and 77,000 hectares this year.

Punjab Financial Commissioner (Development) N S Kang attributes the march towards cotton to handsome returns fetched by farmers last year. “Farmers were paid double of the minimum support price for cotton last year owing to floods in China and Pakistan. So the jump in cotton acreage is mainly driven by high international prices,” he says.

The support price of cotton (medium staple) and cotton (long staple) has again been increased by Rs 300 per quintal each to Rs 2,800 and Rs 3,300 respectively by the Centre for kharif 2011-12 procurement season.

In sugarcane, it is both a mix of prices and new techniques. The sugar mills have in the recent years been paying farmers higher than the state assured price (SAP). In addition, new techniques being adopted under Sustainable Sugarcane Intensification (SSI) that entail raising young cane plants in a nursery using small chips taken from the cane, each with a single bud, and growing them out individually in cups and use of drip irrigation.

The high market prices are also making farmers opt for pulses, mainly summer moong, which can be grown between wheat and paddy crops. It, therefore, does not reflect the shift in area under paddy as it is mainly being grown by farmers between the two main crops.

Fruit orchards, mainly of kinnows, and vegetables, too, are taking over a part of paddy fields.

The state horticulture department says it targets to bring an additional 5,000 hectares under horticulture every year. “The area under fruits has gone up by 1,500 hectares (67,554 hectares in 2009-10 to 69,000 hectares in 2010-11) and vegetables to 1.85 lakh hectares from 1.83 lakh hectares in 2009-10. Since fruit orchards are nurtured yearlong, increase in area under them indicates diversification from paddy,” deputy director, horticulture, Dr Gurkanwal Singh says.