Punjab expecting bumper paddy harvest despite kharif setback

Punjab is expecting a bumper paddy harvest despite setback to crops during the 2023-24 kharif season because of floods during July and August. The state, known as the food bowl of the country, expects paddy output to cross 205 lakh metric tonne with an average yield going up by more than four quintal per hectare as compared to last year, according to Director, Punjab Agriculture Department, Jaswant Singh.

The state had achieved 205 lakh MT output in 2022-23. It had achieved the highest output of 208 lakh MT in 2020-21. The latest crop cutting experiments conducted by the state agriculture department ensure the state's average yield at 69.39 quintal per hectare, which is 4.60 quintal more than the yield achieved last year.

The increase in paddy yield comes despite the state reeling under floods in July and August this year. The floods wreaked havoc in several districts including Patiala, Sangrur, Rupnagar, Jalandhar, Ferozepur and Fatehgarh Sahib during paddy sowing season, thus causing extensive damage to the crop.

Farmers then had to re-sow the kharif crop on more than one lakh hectare of land with growers taking to a short-duration paddy variety and PUSA Basmati, officials said.

But silt and stones left by the floodwater of overflowing rivers in the affected areas also posed a challenge for growers for re-transplantation of the paddy crop.

As a result of the crop cutting experiments, Malerkotla district registered the highest yield of 84.13 quintal a hectare, followed by 81.06 quintal per hectare in Barnala, 77.55 quintal in Jalandhar, 76.36 quintal in Sangrur, 76.30 quintal in Moga, 76.03 quintal in Ludhiana, 75.10 quintal in Faridkot, 74.64 quintal in Kapurthala, 72.80 quintal in Bathinda and 72.18 quintal in Fatehgarh Sahib. The increase in paddy yield can also be attributed to the fact that the crop did not see any attack of pest or disease.

In this season, Punjab saw nearly 32 lakh hectares under the paddy crop. Out of total paddy area, around 6 lakh hectare of land was under the basmati crop, marking a 20 per cent rise in area under the basmati crop. The long-grain rice is grown in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Fazilka and other districts.