Paddy area to shrink in Punjab and Haryana, courtesy lucrative cotton

The prospect of better profit from cotton cultivation is set to shrink the areas traditionally growing rice in Punjab and Haryana, as the two neighbouring states are likely to witness a decline this year in the land meant for the foodgrain crop. As paddy transplantation season nears its ends in both upcountry states, estimates say the rice-growing areas in Punjab have declined by around three per cent, while the corresponding percentage for Haryana is five.

The paddy area in Punjab — fed by five rivers and mostly defined by fertile, alluvial plains and a sound irrigation system — this year would remain around 27.28 lakh hectares as against 28. 31 lakh hectare area achieved last year. As for Haryana — it receives four-fifth of its annual rains during the July-September monsoons — the area under paddy this year is close to 11.55 lakh hectares as against 12.20 lakh hectare area last year.

All this, when the cotton area in both Punjab and Haryana has surged by around 1 lakh hectares as farmers are fancying the cultivation of the soft and fluffy fibre due to its high remunerative prices. Last year, cotton fetched farmers in the two states a remuneration as high as Rs 7,000 per quintal — an almost 100 per cent jump.

This year, though, the North India Cotton Association doesn’t foresee that lucrative a result from cotton cultivation. Its president, Rakesh Rathi, attributes this a discouraging demand situation.

As for paddy, the dip in area apart, farmers are going for vaster cultivation of basmati this season. Punjab’s area that grows this long-grain variety known for its fragrance and flavour is close to 6.50 lakh hectares this year compared to 5.50 lakh hectares last year.

The rice exporters maintain that the area under basmati is bound to increase in Punjab and Haryana in coming years. Reason: remunerative prices, says the All India Rice Exporters Association. The crop, as its president Vijay Setia notes, also “consumes less water compared to normal paddy”. Crucially, this has led the governments of both states to stress on reducing the crop under paddy — a water-guzzler crop.

Even so, even as the area under the extraordinarily long Pusa1121 rice in Haryana would continue to increase, eating into the traditional basmati-growing pockets. This, overall, could bring the basmati area down by 5 to 10 per cent in the state, estimates say.