Area under water-guzzling paddy continues to surge

Chandigarh: Farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are reluctant to phase out water-guzzling paddy as the cultivable area under this kharif crop continues to increase in the last four years in the region, Union minister of state for agriculture and farmers welfare Ramnath Thakur told Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Thakur warned the country may have to deal with supply shortage of pulses and vegetables against the demand for the financial year 2025-26 and beyond after taking into account Niti Aayog’s projections.The area under pulses, wheat and maize cultivation has witnessed decline in the region between 2020-21 and 2023-24.

It has been projected that the country would have a supply of just 27 million tonnes of pulses against the demand of 31 million tonnes in 2025-26. Similarly, the projection expects supply of 224 million tonnes of vegetables in the same year against the demand of 238 million tonnes.
Elaborating on paddy production, the minister said that the cultivable area under paddy in Punjab has continuously increased every year from 2,928 thousand hectares in 2020-21 to 3,187 thousand hectares in 2023-24. Similarly, the neighbouring state of Haryana has witnessed a surge in paddy cultivation from 1,327 thousand hectares to 1,563 thousand hectares during these four years. The hill state of Himachal Pradesh also registered an increase in paddy cultivation from 68,000 hectares to 69,000 hectares during this period.
At the same time, pulses production in Punjab went down from 32,000 hectares in 2020-21 to 23,000 hectares in 2023-24. Farmers in Haryana also brought down area under pulses cultivation from 87,000 hectares to 63,000 hectares and in Himachal Pradesh from 34,000 hectares to 29,000 hectares in the last four years.
Farmers have also been losing interest in maize cultivation in the region because of which its cultivable area in Punjab has declined from 107,000 hectares to 95,000 hectares in the last four years. Similarly, the area under maize in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh has gone down from 6,000 hectares to 4,000 hectares and from 267,000 hectares to 253,000 hectares, respectively.
Also, area under wheat in Punjab has dwindled from 3,530 thousand hectares to 3,508 thousand hectares in the last four years. Haryana and Himachal Pradesh also registered a drop from 2,564 thousand hectares to 2,400 thousand hectares and from 333 thousand hectares to 319 thousand hectares, respectively.
The Union agriculture minister asserted that the area under various crops has been fluctuating over the years depending upon weather conditions, irrigation, facilities, soil conditions, pests and diseases.