40% dip in area under basmati cultivation in one year
TARNTARAN: Basmati rice lovers in the state will have to pay extra in the future to be able to consume the premium quality rice as the area under its cultivation has been dipping drastically in Punjab since the past few years.
Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran are the border districts in Punjab known for cultivation of pure basmati paddy, owing to the favourable atmosphere here.
There are more than 62,000 farmers in Tarn Taran district. Of these, 25,000 are marginal farmers.
Most of the small farmers sow the PUSA-1121 variety of basmati in their fields.
As per information, the farmers of Tarn Taran district transplanted different qualities of paddy in 1.75 lakh hectare area. Of this, only 40,000 hectare have been covered under the cultivation of basmati rice, which was sowed in 67,000 hectare last year, which is 40% higher as compare to this year.
Similarly, in Gurdaspur district, farmers transplanted bas- mati in 43,000 hectare acre, which is 40% lower as compare to last year. Amritsar has also witnessed lower cultivation of basmati this year — around 40% lower as compare to the last khariff season. Decline in the area of cultivation of the premium quality rice will mean that the area under common varieties will go up significantly.
Farmers here are blaming the policies of government for the dip in area under basmati cultivation, despite the state authorities emphasising on enhancing area under the aromatic varieties of the crop as part of a crop diversification programme. “Sometimes farmers fail to get good price of the aromatic variety of PUSA 1121 due to the ups and downs in market prices,” said chief agriculture officer (CAO) Tarn Taran, Dr Partap Singh.
“A decade back, farmers of the district used to sow 50% basmati and 50% other varieties of paddy in their farmland, but now the area under cultivation of the aromatic variety has dipped terribly,” he added. He said though the cost incurred on transplantation of other ordinary qualities of paddy and basmati is same, but farmers prefer to sow other qualities of paddy, as they fear lifting and bad market prices.
“The main reason behind the decline in basmati crop is lower rates fetched by the growers and faulty policies of governments,” said farmer Baljit Singh.
“In the last fiscal, on an average, farmers got ₹2,200 to ₹2,300 per quintal for basmati crop, which was far lower than what they had predicted,” said Tejinderpal Singh, another farmer.
He said that the government should announce minimum support price (MSP) for the crop so that farmers will not fear earning lower rates for basmati paddy. Satnam Singh, a progressive farmer, said, “I sowed basmati of PUSA-1121 variety and got only ₹2,400 per quintal. I needed to earn ₹5,500 per quintal to make the ends meet.”