Haryana to give ₹7,000 per acre to farmers for non-paddy crops
CHANDIGARH: Much before the beginning of paddy transplantation season in mid June, Haryana government has started rolling out incentive- linked crop diversification plans to push farmers towards the cultivation of maize and pulses in place of rice.
The rice cultivation has been losing traction as every year, groundwater table of Haryana depletes about one metre due to non-stop paddy sowing.
Just 1kg rice production consumes 2,000-5,000 litre water, Haryana agriculture and farmers’ welfare department has said in its crop diversification scheme.
While launching ‘Mera Pani Meri Virasat’ scheme on Wednesday, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced the state government will buy maize and pulses at the minimum support price (MSP).
And, the farmers switching over to alternate crop in place of water guzzler paddy will get Rs 7,000 per acre incentive, he added.
Government sources say to become eligible for Rs 7,000 per acre incentive, farmers will have to ensure crop diversification in minimum 50% land. They say the incentive could be given in two instalments — 25% after verification of the crop sown and 75% before harvesting.
The first target is to implement the scheme in over exploited blocks of 12 districts by diversifying around 1 lakh hectare area.
Haryana produces about 68 lakh MT of paddy, including over 25 MT basmati, across about 32 lakh acres. In one acre, about 30 quintal paddy (parmal) is produced and a farmer earns around Rs 30,000 per acre after excluding the input cost that is over Rs 20,000 per acre.
Because of the assured marketing of the paddy under MSP, even non-rice producing areas have taken up paddy production on a large scale.
“Maize used to be a major crop in the present rice belt of Haryana till 1970s,” an official said.
Maize requires about four irrigation cycles, while rice requires 40-45, hence, the push for maize cultivation.
36 BLOCKS IN DARK ZONE
Gram panchayat Pentawas Kalan in Charkhi Dadri has passed a resolution not to sow paddy in their village.
According to Khattar, 36 blocks of the state have become ‘dark zones’ where the groundwater depletion rate has doubled in 12 years. It means that where groundwater level was at 20 metres earlier, it has now gone down to 40 metres. In 19 of them, the water depth has exceeded 40 metres. However, out of these 19, paddy is not sown in 11 blocks. Eight paddy-rich blocks, including Ratia, Siwan, Guhla, Pipli, Shahabad, Babain, Ismailabad and Sirsa, where the depth of groundwater exceeds 40 metres, would be included in this scheme.
The land under the panchayat having groundwater depth of more than 35 metres will not get permission to sow paddy. However, the incentive amount will be given to the panchayat only.
Apart from these blocks, if the farmers of the remaining blocks also want to stop sowing paddy, they can apply for the incentive amount by giving information in advance.
Khattar has urged the farmers to make up their minds to sow crops which require less water than paddy, such as maize, arhar, urad, guar, cotton, bajra, til and grishm moong and (Baisakhi moong) to ensure the availability of water for future generations.
The land under paddy transplantation in Haryana is about 32 lakh acres. Just 1kg rice production consumes 2,000-5,000 litre water, which significantly affects the groundwater table. There are 36 blocks where the groundwater depletion rate has doubled in 12 years due to paddy cultivation.