Statsguru: Why Punjab farmers stand out among major agrarian states

The intensifying protests against new farm laws have been undeniably led by Punjab farmers. A quick background: While there are many strong agrarian states in India, prosperity in Punjab — courtesy Green Revolution — came much before economic liberalisation, which sprawled the growth of new urban India. That they benefit the most from the minimum support price scheme is also well known.

Among the eight states that contribute 70 per cent of India’s produce, Punjab farmers stand out by a wide margin.

On nine parameters, Punjab is a case of extremes: Excelling in some, while under severe stress in others. For instance, only one in five rural homes saves money in the state — the lowest among selected peers — but it also has the highest proportion of households who invest, shows chart 1.

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Almost all farmers in Punjab take two crops in a year, and their fertiliser use is also substantial. Hence they do well in terms of productivity. But importantly, water stress is most acute in three states: Maharashtra, Haryana, and Punjab.

As a result, while Punjab farmers till about 5 per cent of farmland in India, they produce nearly 11 per cent of crop output, chart 2 reveals. 

 

Clearly, they produce much more from per unit of land than their peers, resulting in pressure on most resources that go into farming.
 

But, farmers in Punjab are more equally distributed in terms of class. Simply put, the middle-class of farmers is considerably strong, shows chart 3. In other agrarian states, most farmers are small landowners, and a small proportion is either a medium or large farmer. This could well explain the tenacity of Punjab farmers in the protest.

As the protest goes on, they have also sown less rabi crops this year than the decadal average, chart 4 shows. It might affect this year’s rabi output.

StatsGuru is a weekly feature. Every Monday, Business Standard guides you through the numbers you need to know to make sense of the headlines. Compiled by BS Research Bureau