Muskmelon area shrinks in Dona belt, farmers turn to water-guzzling maize

Muskmelon cultivation is sharply declining across Punjab’s traditional belts - Shahkot in Jalandhar and Dona in Kapurthala. Farmers are shifting to spring maize, triggering concerns among experts over increased irrigation demand and ecological risks.

Advertisement

The area under muskmelon in Jalandhar district has plummeted from 2,904 hectares in 2019–2020 to just around 2,100 hectares in 2024, while the area under spring maize has seen an explosive rise — from 9,000 hectares in 2020 to nearly 25,000 hectares this year.

Farmers cite several reasons for this trend: high input costs, including expensive seeds and rising labour charges, increased risk of blight disease due to moisture, unpredictable weather, and declining profits. On the other hand, spring maize offers relatively stable returns, prompting many to make the switch.

But this change has sparked concern. Spring maize is more water-intensive than even paddy, a crop already heavily criticised for its impact on Punjab’s groundwater levels.

“I used to sow muskmelon on 50 acres till three years ago. This year, it’s down to just six acres. From next year, I won’t grow muskmelon at all,” said Gurvinder Singh, a farmer from Nawan Pind Donewal village in Shahkot, who has shifted most of his land to spring maize.

He is far from alone. Sher Singh, from Nasirewal village in Sultanpur Lodhi, has reduced muskmelon cultivation from 150 acres to 60 acres, and planted spring maize on around 200 acres. “Now the muskmelon is coming here from states like Gujarat and Rajasthan,” he said.

Balkaran Singh, also from Nawan Pind, has similarly scaled down — from 65 acres to less than 10 acres of muskmelon.

The impact of this shift is visible across Shahkot and neighbouring Kapurthala’s Dona area, which were once synonymous with prolific muskmelon production. The once-thriving Roopewal Mandi in Shahkot — once among Asia’s biggest muskmelon markets, supplying to Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, and other regions — is now a shadow of its former self.

“Earlier, over 300 trucks used to leave daily with Jalandhar-grown muskmelons,” recalled Surinder Singh, a retired accountant from the local marketing committee. “If this continues, the Roopewal Mandi will be nowhere.”

Local varieties like Madhu, Bobby, and Farm Glory are now rarely found in fields. Officials from the horticulture department confirmed that the sharp rise in spring maize cultivation is severely affecting other crops, including muskmelon.

As more Punjab farmers move away from traditional horticulture towards water-intensive crops, experts warn that groundwater depletion and crop diversity loss could become pressing challenges for the region’s agricultural future.