Paddy yield down by 10-15 per cent

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 23

Paddy yield has fallen by 10-15 per cent across the state after the crop was hit by showers in late September. This has forced the government to revise its production target, which is now estimated to drop by over 10 lakh quintals compared to last year.

Farmers and commission agents (arhtiyas) are claiming that the yield is down by about 5 quintals per hectare (from 32-33 last year to 27-28 this season). According to the state Agriculture Department, the average fall in yield is 2-3 quintals per hectare.

Jasbir Singh, Director, Agriculture, Punjab, said: “We were expecting a bumper crop this year, but the untimely rain affected the crop maturity, and thus its yield. We have revised our production target to 190 lakh tonnes, a fall of about 5 per cent over last year.”

At Khanna, the largest grain market in Asia, Harbans Singh Rosha, a commission agent and senior vice-president of the Arhtiya Association, Punjab, said, “According to the trend so far, we are expecting almost 1.75 lakh tonnes lesser arrivals in this grain market alone. Almost 45 per cent of the (targeted) paddy has already arrived in the mandi so far. The state and Central governments should jointly give bonus to the farmers to compensate them for their losses,” he said.

Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, general secretary of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), said apart from rain, the yield was also affected by the state government’s decision to not allow paddy sowing before June 20. ‘Sowing was delayed by 10 days. We want the state government to give us Rs 100 per quintal as compensation, besides an equal amount from the Centre,” he said.

So far, paddy arrivals in the mandis have been slow. As compared to almost 77 lakh tonnes till the corresponding date last year, the arrivals are around 44 lakh tonnes this time.

Noted agro economist Dr MS Sidhu told The Tribune that as paddy arrivals pick up and peak in 10 days, the projected production figure may improve.