Area under toria crop declines in Kapurthala

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Jalandhar, February 2

Area under toria (rapeseed) has decreased drastically this year in Kapurthala district. Last year, the oilseed crop was sown on around 3,500 acres. This year, it is on mere 400 acres.

The reason behind a dip in the area was fog as it had damaged the crop last year. Farmers had to plough the crop and they didn’t get proper price for it. The crop is sown in October and harvested between February end and beginning of March.

Around four years ago, Daljit Singh from Burewal village in Kapurthala was one of the few farmers who started sowing Toria and others started following him. Last year, he cultivated oilseed crop, which belongs to Brassica family, on 15 acres.

“I had to plough the crop after it was damaged due to fog last year. Crop on only five acres could be saved. We did not get

good price for it. So, I shifted toward peas this time,” he said.

Jit Singh, another grower from the same village, said: “Weather played a spoilsport and it ruined everything last year. I cultivated the crop on five acres last year. This year, I couldn’t afford to sow it again”.

Toria crop needs less amount of water and it gets matured in comparatively lesser time. No labour is required at the time of sowing the crop.

A farmer, Dilbagh Singh, again sowed the crop on 17 acres like last year.

Similar is the situation with mentha crop. The Tribune had highlighted how the area under mentha crop was also on decline.

In Kapurthala, the area under mentha in 2023 was 170 hectares. In 2010, mentha was sown in over 560 hectares in the district. The situation is similar in Jalandhar. In 2022, more than 750 hectares was under menthe, which has reduced to 500 last year.