The area under cotton has dwindled drastically to a mere less than one lakh hectares this season, which is an all time low acreage under the crop in its recorded history in the state, plummeting from 1.79 lakh hectares last year.
In a significant agricultural shift, Punjab is poised to increase its cultivation of paddy this year, predominantly due to a steep decline in the area under cotton, a major alternative crop, and also as there is no hope to increase area under Kharif maize too.
The area under cotton has dwindled drastically to a mere less than one lakh hectares this season, which is an all time low acreage under the crop in its recorded history in the state, plummeting from 1.79 lakh hectares last year. Before last year, area under cotton had never come down from over 2-lakh hecatres. Cotton used to have huge area in Punjab till 1980, and 1990s when it witnessed up to 7.58 lakh hecatres area. Even in the first decade of this century, its area remained around 6 lakh hectares.
This year, direct sowing of paddy through Direct Seeded rice (DSR) technology was started after May 15 but the tranplantation was allowed from June 11 in six districts of the state and from July 16 to the remaining 17 districts.
Till Friday, around 10-lakh hectares under paddy was already transplanted in the state and the paddy transplantation would continue till July first week depending upon the varieties. Also Basmati transplantation has begun and it may continue till July second week.
“Farmers, dissuaded by the comparatively lower yields of Kharif maize compared to paddy, show limited interest in expanding maize cultivation in the past several years. The sowing of Kharif maize is also going on. This reluctance further narrows down the viable alternatives to paddy cultivation in the state without paying heed to the depleting ground water,” said a senior officer in Punjab agriculture department on condition of anonymity, adding that the government gives them a target to increase but they cannot do anything except educating farmers.
With the diminishing prospects for other Kharif crops, attention now turns to another alternative crop — basmati — an aromatic variety sown after paddy. Basmati is often considered a viable alternative to regular paddy cultivation, though it has seen good area (5.96 lakh hecatres) under it last year but it is to be seen that how much area could be brought under it this year. As it gives good returns to farmers but it’s rate are highly fluctuating and there is no assured secuirty like paddy’s Minimumm Support Price (MSP) to Basmati cultivators.
Meanwhile, the area under cotton plummeted to 1.75 lakh hectares in 2023, sharply declining from 2.48 lakh hectares in 2022, 2.52 lakh hectares in 2021, 2.50 lakh hectares in 2020, and 3.35 lakh hectares in 2019.
This continuous decline in cotton cultivation has been observed since 2019. Similarly, over the past five years, the area under maize has decreased from 1.10 lakh hectares to below one lakh hectares. Comparing this with the paddy area, one can observe a continuous increase in paddy cultivation over these years. For instance, the area under paddy increased from 2019 to 2023. It was 31.99 lakh hectares in 2023, including 5.96 lakh hectares under Basmati.
From 2019 to 2022 it has increased continously as it was 31.42 lakh hectares (including 6.29 lakh hectares under Basmati) in 2019, 31.49 lakh hectares (including 4.06 lakh hectares of Basmati) in 2020, 31.45 lakh hectares (including 4.85 lakh hectares for Basmati) in 2021. It increased to 31.67 lakh hectares (with 4.94 lakh hectares for Basmati) in 2022. The ongoing paddy season presents challenges.