Deficient rain may hit harvest in Punjab, Haryana

Peak paddy season is underway, and two of the food bowl states – Haryana and Punjab – that contribute nearly 70 per cent of the total food produce in the country, are staring at a crisis of deficit rainfall that could adversely impact the prospect of a bumper harvest for the second season in a row.

Haryana has been particularly hit, with an average rainfall deficit of nearly 46 per cent till Wednesday; in some zones, the deficiency has crossed 80 per cent.

Large parts of the state have experienced little to insignificant rainfall so far, with districts like Panipat and Rohtak — home turf of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda — registering an abysmally low count of 80-90 per cent rainfall deficit. In Punjab, at least four districts — Ludhiana, Mansa, Bathinda and Muktsar — have recorded highly deficient rainfall.

The last wheat procurement season shattered Punjab and Haryana record of bumper harvests for years before. The wheat procured in Punjab was much below expectation, with neighbouring Haryana’s

wheat produce plunging over 35 per cent since the previous year.

The shortfall was largely due to the inclement weather towards the fag end of the harvest season. This time, it’s the rainfall deficiency that projects a grim future.
Experts, however, say that there is no reason to press the panic button, at least for now. That’s because the Met department, they maintain, has predicted normal rainfall this year.   

Paddy is a water-guzzling crop and requires multiple watering to ensure adequate yield and quality.

The rainfall deficiency is also likely impact the sowing of kharif crops like maize, cotton, pulses and oilseeds, say sources.

The grim scenario could mean farmers having to bear additional input cost, Bhartiya Kisan Morcha national media in-charge Vineet Joshi told Deccan Herald on Friday.
Joshi said increased usage of submersible water pumps will mean more diesel and power consumption.

No groundwater

Further depletion of groundwater level due to overexploitation will be another problem. Already, the water table in over 80 per cent of Punjab is depleting, with an average decline across Punjab ranging between 50 and 100 cm a year. Of the 138 hydro-geological blocks, over 100 are listed as dark or grey zones due to overexploitation.

One long-term sustainable solution, experts opine, is to break away from the traditional wheat-paddy crop cycle. Despite Punjab’s rare feat of producing bumper harvests of wheat and rice for decades, at least until recently, the contribution of agriculture to the state’s income is on the wane.

The Punjab government has now come out with a plan that will bring down paddy cultivation on a whopping 1.2 million hectares of area in the state, said Joshi. He added that the plan will be put in place over the next six years to wean farmers off paddy and get them to adopt diversified high-yield fruits and other crop.