Farmers expect better paddy crop this year

Favourable monsoon and better farm management practices likely to help production

Farmers across India are expecting a higher yield of paddy this year, which could culminate in a better crop size.

A favourable monsoon except for some blocks in Odisha, Bihar and Chattisgarh, and the application of better farm management practices under Bring Green Revolution in the Eastern India are likely to lead to a substantial rise in the total produce.

While the International Grain Council has pegged India’s rice production at 107 million tonnes (mt) against 104.4 mt in 2012-13, it could go beyond that, said Trilochan Mohapatra, director, Central Rice Research Institute, Cuttack. About 40-45 per cent area under paddy is rain-fed. It is a major kharif crop, Mohapatra told Business Standard.

Year	Rice production (in million tonne)
2011-12	105.3
2012-13	104.4
2013-14	107(P)

Source: International Grain Council

An annual allocation of Rs 1,000 crore under the programme might fructify only in the presence of adequate rainfall, he added. West Bengal, Assam and Uttar Pradesh are likely to get a tremendous push in yield due to sufficient rainfall and government intervention. The monsoon was inconsistent and deficit in many parts of India last year, so the efforts made to enhance productivity in east were not very effective.

This year, due to proper irrigation in the wake of sufficient rains, farmers are likely to get rich dividends, Mohapatra said.

 

The farmers are gearing up to harvest the paddy in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh in the first week of October for the early varieties. For the late sowing varieties, the harvesting may commence in the third week of October in north.

 

In the Eastern states, the major part of harvesting is done in the month of November-December.

 

Over the years, the area under paddy has remained stagnant (approximately 44 million hectares) but the introduction of high yielding varieties and thrust on the farm management has helped pushing up the average yield.

 

"The new varieties are introduced routinely but takes time to be accepted by the farmers. Awareness among the farmers about soil testing, mirco nutrients (Zinc, Zinc Sulphate and boron), space planting (results in low weeds), line planting and application of bio fertilisers has helped in raising the paddy yeild from 1.7 tonne per hectare to 2.5 per hectare in certain pockets of Esatern states. Punjab remains the state with the highest average yield of paddy of about 4 tonne per hectare", told Mohapatra.

 

The farmers in Punjab and Haryana are sanguine over the prospects of bumber crop but do not appericiate the returns on agriculture. 

 

Parminder Singh, a progressive farmer from Sangrur says that the Minimum Support Price of Rs 1310 (for common varieties of Paddy) was not viable. "We fetch an average yield of over 5 tonne per hectare in our fields investing in modern agriculture practices but that does not match the remuneration we get," he added.