Punjab farmers overcome labour woes, complete 60% paddy sowing
CHANDIGARH: Transplant of saplings is complete on nearly 60% of the total 67 lakh acres that will have paddy crop this kharif season in Punjab, it is learnt.
The sowing season is going on unhindered despite acute labour shortage since the onset of the transplantation that began on June 10 after being preponed by 10 days from the deadline prescribed in state’s law on paddy sowing.
Most of the labourers from eastern states went back home in April and May because of Covid-19 spread.
“We required at least 10-12 lakh labour heads for entire transplantation in Punjab alone, and by an estimate, only 5 lakh are in the state. Farmers depended on family members and co-villagers,” said an officer of state agriculture department.
Going by this pace, it is expected the paddy transplant will be over by first week of July, after which basmati’s will begin which is expected to over before July 31. “Although it is a challenging time for agricultural operations amid the pandemic, Punjab farmers will complete the process by July 31,” said agriculture secretary KS Pannu.
According to him, paddy was grown on 72 lakh acres in Punjab last year. “This season, the state agriculture department has decided to shift 6 lakh acres to other crops. In addition, a new method of paddy sowing called direct seeding of rice (DSR) has been recommended by Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana,” adds Pannu.
Around 12 lakh acres is expected to be under DSR system this season, with 4,000 specialised
DSR machines purchased by farmers and in addition thousands of wheat sowing machines modified to sow paddy by the farmers. “Engineering dept of agriculture department has also trained the farmers on how to modify the machines by spending as little as only Rs 1,000 per machine,” said Pannu, adding that this year the number of mechanised paddy transplantation machines has doubled to about 1,200.
President of a faction of a Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) BS Rajewal said that the paddy
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Although it is a challenging time for agricultural operations amid the pandemic, Punjab farmers will complete the process by July 31.
KS PANNU, agriculture secretary
transplantation was going on in full swing but the cost of transplantation was up from ₹ 3,000 per acre last season to ₹4000-5000 per acre. “The government has left farmers to their fate,” he added, seeking a compensation to cover additional cost.
BASMATI VARIETIES ON 19 LAKH ACRES
This area under aromatic variety of basmati rice is expected to touch 19 lakh acres, an increase of 2 lakh acres from the previous season. Last season it was 17 lakh acres, an increase of 2.5 lakh acres from 2018 when 14.5 lakh acres. Exporters of Punjab’s premium aromatic basmati rice are ecstatic as they have started getting orders from international buyers again even as they suffered a setback in 2018 when hundreds of consignments were returned by the European Union (EU) and countries in the Middle East due to traces of fungicide in the grain. The advance orders are mainly for the 1,121 and 1,718 varieties of the aromatic rice.