Punjab, Haryana expect bumper paddy crop
With harvesting of paddy yet to get into full swing, paddy output in Punjab and Haryana is poised to observe bumper crop of upto 22 million tonnes (MT) during the Kharif marketing season due to an increase in the acreage and sowing of hybrid varieties.
“Against last year’s output of 15.65 MT in Punjab, we are hoping to reach 16 MT of paddy crop this year,” a Punjab agriculture department senior official said.
Likewise Haryana agriculture department is also expecting paddy output of 6 MT, against last season’s output of 5.4 MT. Although heavy floods this year caused damage to the crop in both states, but experts are hopeful that both states would achieve higher output than the last year. Punjab, which is a major contributor of paddy to the central pool, this year, has witnessed record area under cultivation at 2.66 million hectares, against the targeted area of 2.47 million hectares.
Similarly, area under paddy in Haryana also rose to 1.15 million hectares, against targeted area of 1.05 million hectares, showing a whopping increase of one lakh hectares.
“Farmers in both these states brought maximum area under paddy cultivation at the cost of cotton and sugarcane as they expected higher minimum support price (MSP) from the Centre,” said an agricultural economist. Apart from increase in area under cultivation, sowing of hybrid varieties by both these states would also make major difference in the output, as farmers have covered maximum area under hybrid varieties of paddy.
“The yield of hybrid varieties is 10-15 per cent higher than the traditional variety which will also increase the output,” said an expert.
Both Punjab and Haryana have brought 200,000 hectares each under Pusa-1121 variety cultivation, which is known for giving higher yield as well good prices to the farmers, said experts. Basmati is grown on 500,000 hectares in Haryana while 300,000 hectares in Punjab this year.
Well distributed rains across the northern region during this Kharif would also help the crop achieve better yield this year. Although Punjab is expecting almost last year’s yield of 60 quintal per hectare, Haryana is expecting 34.50 quintal per hectare against last year’s yield of 33.16 quintal per hectare.