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Punjab has completed wheat sowing on approximately 90% of the targeted area, aiming to cover around 35 lakh hectares under the crop this year.
The wheat area in the state has mostly ranged between 34.50 lakh and a little over 35 lakh hectares annually. Despite a pressing need to divert approximately 4-5 lakh hectares of wheat area to Rabi oil seeds, Punjab has struggled to achieve this diversion. As of now, wheat sowing has been completed on over 31 lakh hectares, with nearly 4 lakh hectares remaining for farmers who planted a third crop, such as green peas, between paddy and wheat, to sow late wheat varieties.
Gurdaspur and Patiala districts are leading with 98% wheat sowing completion, followed by Bathinda and Sangrur at 96% and 95%, respectively. Other districts of SAS Nagar (96%), Amritsar (94%), Mansa (93%), Rupnagar (93%), Ludhiana (93%), Tarn Taran (93%) , Malerkotla (91%), Saheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (89%), Barnala (88%), Fatehgarh Sahib (87%), Kapurthala (86%), Moga (85%) , Firozpur (80%), Jalandhar (77%), Pathankot (76%), Fazilka (73%), Hoshiarpur (70%) , and Sri Muktsar Sahib (65%) are also making progress with varying completion percentages.
Director of Punjab Agriculture Department, Jaswant Singh, expects the remaining four lakh hectares to be sown in the coming week. He said that several farmers have shifted to vegetables after harvesting early paddy varieties, aiming to enhance their income through a third crop.
Efforts are underway to increase the area under oilseeds, including mustard oil and canola sarson oil varieties, though concerns persist among farmers regarding proper rates of oil seed crops at the time of harvesting.
Despite the importance of diversifying crops, wheat, which receives Minimum Support Price (MSP) from the Centre, remains a preferred choice for farmers. This preference contrasts with the country’s substantial reliance on imports, meeting around 60% of its edible oil needs.
Agricultural experts stress that Punjab’s fertile land, boasting high productivity per hectare compared to the national average, could significantly contribute to the country’s edible oil production, potentially reducing the need for importing unhealthy palm oil.
Currently, Punjab meets only a fraction, around 20 to 25%, of its required 5 lakh tonnes of edible oil, leaving a substantial gap in meeting its own needs.
Even if Punjab were to allocate land solely to meet its internal demands, it could potentially dedicate nearly 4 lakh hectares to oilseed cultivation.
A senior scientist at PAU emphasized that, akin to rice and wheat, Punjab possesses the capability to produce edible oil for the nation, provided the central government offers justified MSP to the state’s farmers for oilseed crops. This move could significantly reduce the nation’s dependence on imports and lead to a more diversified agricultural landscape in Punjab, he added.
“The state could easily allocate approximately 10 lakh hectares for oilseeds during both Rabi and Kharif seasons, considering that oilseed crops are cultivated during both periods,” he said.
He added that there is a need to divert at least 10-12 lakh hectares from paddy to other crops, especially oilseeds and to a lesser extent pulses, during the Kharif season. “However, the central government’s lack of encouragement for diversification stands as a hurdle. The onus, therefore, falls on the Punjab government to take innovative measures towards genuine diversification without solely relying on the central government’s support,” he added.
Meanwhile, Punjab has concluded paddy harvesting on all areas, including Basmati rice fields.
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