The new government in Punjab may have to convince farmers to move away from growing rice and wheat to economically and ecologically viable horticultural crops, vegetables, pulses and oilseeds. According to Punjab government data, of the total 78.2 lakh hectares used for crop production, 40% was used for paddy cultivation and 45% was used for growing wheat in 2019-20.
Given the results of assembly elections announced on Thursday, the Aam Aadmi Party is set to form the new government in the state with a thumping majority.
“This cropping system of Punjab is becoming economically and ecologically unviable given the deterioration of soil health, depletion of water table and squeezing of farm incomes as cost of cultivation increases,” the Punjab Economic Survey (2020-21) stated.
The economic survey had noted that cropping intensity in Punjab has reached almost at ‘saturation’ level and was at 190% in 2018-19.
The state is also referred as the ‘bread basket’ of India, despite having a negligible share of 1.53% in total geographical area of the country, and its share in the central pool of rice and wheat has been very significant, especially after the Green Revolution period.
According to official data available till 2019-20, Punjab contributes around 10% and 16% of the country’s rice and wheat production, respectively, while its share in procurement for the central grain pool by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was a significant 21% (rice) and more than 37% (wheat).
“In a gradual manner, Punjab has to diversify from paddy to growing other high-value horticultural crops, as well as livestock and dairy farming”, P K Joshi, former director, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and member of a Supreme Court-appointed committee on farm laws, told FE.
As a large portion of marketable surplus of rice and wheat are procured by FCI and state government-owned agencies under minimum support price (MSP) operations, farmers are not encouraged to move to other alternate crops such as pulses and oilseeds in the absence of any marketing infrastructure.
The Punjab Economic Survey had noted that there was a need to diversify crops and horticulture, as pulses and oilseeds act as avenues for diversification. Besides, the farmers could shift to ‘allied sectors’ such as the livestock sector, which has adequate potential for growth and supplement income and employment.
The progress of the crop diversification programme, being implemented since 2013-14 by the agriculture ministry, mainly focussed on diversifying paddy area in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, has been insignificant, according to an official.
“In the absence of assured MSP operations, farmers in Punjab are reluctant to take up crop diversification,” an agriculture ministry official said.
In 2019-20, an estimated 91% of the total cultivated land in Punjab was used for growing cereals and pulses. Cotton was cultivated only 3.2% of the total cultivated land and sugarcane and fruits each were grown on approximately 1% of the area, respectively.
