Punjab has always been more than a symbol of green revolution. With the adoption of productivity enhancing technology, its farmers, back in 1966, ensured not just freedom from import-dependence in wheat and paddy but also a self-sufficiency in foodgrains since then for India. But, for several years now, the farmers in Punjab seem caught in a low productivity warp of these very two crops with farmer incomes aligned only to a low-risk public procurement based assured market and price – the Minimum Support Price or MSP. Adding to this lack of sustainability of farmer incomes, are the challenges of groundwater depletion, increasing rural inequality and operated land holdings moving out of the hands of small farmers.

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“The green revolution has outlived its utility for Punjab since sometime. It may still be relevant for other states but not quite for Punjab. The yields of wheat and paddy have stayed at roughly 20 and 30 quintals per acre respectively for many years now turning them into low value but land extensive crops,” says Dr. Sukhpal Singh, Professor and former Chairperson, Centre for Management in Agriculture at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. An expert in agriculture, Professor Singh, who also happens to hail from Punjab, has authored several books and research papers on Punjab and studied Indian agriculture closely. To a farmer in Punjab, wheat and paddy have today become low value crops, he says, and explains: they take large area but give low value of output. The maximum you get from an acre of wheat is about 25 quintals which gives Rs 50,000 at an MSP of Rs. 2000 per quintal which most farmers are able to sell at. After deducting the cost of production which is of the order of Rs. 10,000 per acre and accounting for the prevailing land lease rate of Rs. 25-30,000 per acre/season,  it leaves the farmer with Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per acre, which is no good.

In case of paddy, for an acre, the yield is 30 quintals which is worth Rs 60,000 at MSP of Rs. 2000 per quintal but it involves higher costs ranging from 15-20000 per acre. So, the net to the farmer, after deducting land lease cost, is again only in the region of Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per acre. So, on an average, most farmers in Punjab are not able to get more than Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 per acre even if the value of wheat straw as fodder is taken into account.

If it was not just the dependence on wheat and paddy, and there was more diversity in crop cultivation, farmers could have got better returns. “Today, a farmer in Bihar is able to get much higher returns per acre than a farmer in Punjab,” says Professor Singh.

He says, “We need a break from the past and find ways to move towards crop diversification to include high value crops and low water consuming crops like mustard, green gram or potato where even multiple crops (3-4 unlike just two in case of paddy and wheat) will be possible in a year. A diversified crop portfolio will almost double crop-based incomes in the region.

“Farmers in Punjab also need to adopt more sustainable practices such as natural or organic farming, reduced chemical input use, Systems of Root Intensification (SRI), and more desirable mix of machines and human labour,” says Professor Singh. Today, he finds a typical farmer of Punjab completely risk-averse and a farming profile that shows the operational control of land concentrated among medium and large farmers/operators of land who have the resources, knowledge and skills while what is needed is strengthening the agricultural smallholders, tenants, and the agricultural workers. Quoting figures from the state’s Statistical Abstract, Professor Singh says, “today small and marginal farmers, who operate less than five acres of land account for only about 30 per cent of total farming households and operate only 8 per cent of farming land in Punjab.” And, while agriculture in Punjab has moved out of the hands of the small farmers into the hands of medium and large farmers, most of the latter are not just dependent on farming and are involved in other agri and allied businesses and treat their wheat and paddy produce as mere sources of assured income due to the public procurement of these crops. In some cases, these resourceful farmers grow high value crops for large Indian markets or for exports.”

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Professor Singh points to the institutional part of the problem like land leasing which albeit informal is widespread. “It is estimated that 40-50 per cent of the farm lands are operated by lessee farmers who are also owners of their own farms but lease (reverse lease) small farmer lands to enlarge their holdings. On what could happen to India’s foodgrain security if farmers take to multiple cropping, Professor Singh says, “I do not think that is a very big issue now and the government is pumping money into crop diversification. This is a job of state/central government under the NFSA (National Food Security Act). If there is a shortage, then the government will either come back to farmers with higher prices (MSP) or will import. Farmer should do what makes business sense for them keeping sustainability in mind.”

The challenge for farming in Punjab is arriving at solutions that provide long-term viability and sustainability of the farm sector and its real stakeholders (small farmers and farm workers) backed by agricultural policy and an institutional structure having plurality of organisations like NGOs, co-operatives/producer companies and other agencies besides the state agencies.

So, what should be the contours of a green revolution 2.0 for Punjab and the professor says, “an evergreen revolution will mean a viable, equitable and sustainable farm sector which provides decent livelihoods to its stakeholders for a couple of decades before they move out of the sector for better livelihoods in other sectors.” That may be the first step to ensure a long overdue move towards sustainable farming and retain Punjab’s stellar status in Indian agriculture.