Labour crunch may push farmers to diversification

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 24

For three decades, Punjab has been talking about diversification in agriculture, but to no avail. With specialised labour for paddy transplantation unavailable, the situation seems ripe for a change in the crop cycle.

The area under the water-guzzling non-basmati paddy is set to be reduced by almost 3 lakh hectares, as farmers will find it difficult to either buy new machinery for direct seeding or labour to transplant the crop. This clearly means that more and more farmers will opt for basmati or other cash crops like cotton and maize.

Official data shows that area under paddy, including basmati, is expected to be reduced from 29.30 lakh hectares in the last kharif marketing season to 26.30 lakh hectares now. Of 26.30 lakh hectares under paddy, 7 lakh hectares will be under basmati varieties. “With Vietnam stopping the export of basmati, a huge opportunity lies ahead for Indian farmers and exporters,” says MS Sidhu, an agro-economist.

“The area under basmati will increase from 6 lakh hectares last year to 7 lakh hectares this year, especially as exports look promising after we banned nine pesticides to make it export-compliant,” says Vishwajit Khanna, Additional Chief Secretary, Development.

Other than basmati, it is cotton which is expected to get a major push with an expected increase of 1 lakh hectares — from 4 lakh hectares last year to 5 lakh hectares this year. Khanna says a lot of mechanised interventions (vacuum pluckers for cotton and drilling of maize seeds) are being made in the cultivation of alternative crops, which is expected to help farmers wean away from paddy.

“The largest shift, however, will be in area under maize. Traditionally, maize was grown in Doaba and the kandi belt, but last year, we made concerted efforts to bring 8,000 hectares under maize in Malwa. This year, the target is to increase the area from 1.6 lakh hectares last year to 3 lakh hectares, mainly in the Malwa belt,” says Sutantar Kumar Airi, Director, Agriculture.

Many farmers, however, feel that they will grow maize only if its MSP is assured. Last year, the cotton growers had suffered losses as they were forced to sell their produce at prices below the MSP. Balbir Singh Rajewal, president, BKU (Rajewal), says the price of last year’s maize crop has dropped drastically and the farmers are resorting to distress sale. “In such a scenario, the government will have to assure the farmers a good return for the programme to be successful,” he says.

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