The cropping pattern of growing water-intensive rice and wheat along with free electricity supplied to farmers has resulted in depletion of ground water levels, and the model is economically and ecologically un-viable, the economic survey (2023-24) of Punjab government has noted.
The survey tabled in the state assembly last week also pitched for crop diversification to oilseeds and pulses.
“Easy access to power may have incentivized farmers to over-exploit ground water resources,” the survey stated. As per the state budget, out of total allocation of Rs 13,660 crore for agri and allied activities for 2024-25, Rs 9330 crore has been earmarked for free power (subsidy) for the farmers in Punjab.
Stating that yield of cereals, pulses and oilseeds in Punjab has been higher compared to national average, the survey said “yields are stagnating in wheat and rice and it is another reason for crop diversification to be the way forward,”.
“This cropping system of Punjab is becoming economically and ecologically unviable given the deterioration of soil health, depletion of water table and squeezing of farm incomes as cost of cultivation increases,” the survey has noted.
It stated that oilseeds and pulses which have adequate demand deficit in the country could offer one avenue for crop diversification.
This comes at a time when the government is learnt to have assured agitating farmers that it will procure maize, cotton and pulses varieties – arhar, urad and masoor – at the minimum support price (MSP) not just from farmers in Punjab but from across the country for the next five years.
The offer by the centre, according to official sources, is subject to the condition that farmers diversify from water-intensive paddy cultivation. Earlier, the government had offered the same facility for farmers from Haryana and Punjab, but they refused to accept it.
The survey has noted the total cropped area is held by food grain production in Punjab and is majorly occupied by the wheat and paddy crops due to assured economic return in the form of MSP provided to the farmers, on these two crops.
In 2021-22, Punjab produced nearly 14% of the country’s wheat output of 107.7 million tonne (MT) with just less than 12% share of the total area under its cultivation at the national level. During the same period, the State also contributed almost 10% of the total rice production of 129.4 MT with only 6.4% of the total area under rice cultivation in the country.
To address the issue of indiscriminate use of electricity by the farmers, the Punjab government has launched a pilot direct benefit transfer scheme being implemented in six agriculture feeder areas where the participant farmer gets a fixed allocation of electricity consumption. It has stated if the farmer consumes less than the fixed allocation, he/she receives a financial benefit for electricity not consumed.