The wheat acreage in Punjab would remain roughly the same this year at 3.50 million hectares, as compared to last year’s 3.52 million hectares. However, the total targeted production is likely to be higher.
The state agriculture department is expecting a total production of 15.4 million metric tonnes compared to 15.1 million metric tonnes in 2009.
According to state agriculture department officials, the marginal drop is due the government’s thrust on crop diversification. However, the exact area would come in the picture by December, after sowing is completed.
Last year, the state agriculture department had projected the total area under wheat cultivation would touch 3.48 million hectares, but the sown area stood at 3.52 million hectares. However, the department is hopeful that this year, the production of wheat in the state would touch 15.4 million metric tonnes — slightly upwards of last year’s 15.1 million metric tonnes. Last year, the average yield was 4,307 kg per hectare while this year they are expecting the yield to touch 4,400 kg per hectare.
To increase the yield, the centre has given Rs 41.33 crore to the state government under National Food Security Mission (NFSM). The centre has selected 10 districts of the state namely, Mohali, Ropar, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Ferozpur, Bathinda, Barnala, Tarn Tarn & Sangrur under NFSM. Farmers would be provided with a subsidy of Rs 500 per quintal for wheat seeds in these 10 districts. Besides, the state government, under NFSM would also distribute over 30,000 seed minikits each with 10 kg of high yielding varieties of wheat to the farmers of these 10 districts.
Earlier, there was political uproar over the meagre revision of minimum support price (MSP) of wheat — a hike of Rs 20 per quintal to Rs 1,120 from Rs 1,100 per quintal last year. But that did not act as a deterrent to the farmers of Punjab, as the area under wheat would not be much affected, experts felt.
This meagre hike drew the attention of various political parties who described it as ‘woefully inadequate and unjustified’.
It is worth noting that 90 per cent (during the Rabi season) of the total area in the state is under wheat cultivation and rest is under oil seeds, pulses, barley etc.