As Punjab and Haryana fret over water, two new orders are causing heartburn

Unchecked paddy cultivation over the years has pushed groundwater levels to unsustainable levels, but a recent decision to stagger sowing might meet with limited success

Paddy sowing in two of India's largest producers of the crop - Punjab, and to some extent, Haryana - has been a cause for concern for quite some time now due to the over-exploitation of groundwater resources, impact on ecology, and effect that paddy stubble-burning has on air quality in neighbouring cities of Delhi-NCR.

 

According to research from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (Icar), each tonne of stubble burnt leads to a loss of no less than 12-13 kg of phosphorus, 35 kg of potassium and 20 kg of nitrogen in the soil.

 

Paddy acreage