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With Punjab and Haryana looking to diversify into other crops, both states aim to reduce acreage under water-guzzling paddy by 1.65 lakh hectares during the current kharif season.
With Punjab laying thrust on crop diversification, the state has cut down the target for area under paddy by one lakh hectares to 27.50 lakh hectares for this sowing season from last year's 28.45 lakh hectares.
"As farmers are being encouraged to diversify into other crops, we are targeting 27.50 lakh hectares under paddy crop for current kharif season which is almost one lakh hectare less than what farmers actually brought in last year," said a senior official of Punjab Agriculture department.
Haryana has set a target of sowing paddy over 11.50 lakh hectares in current sowing season as against an area of 12.15 lakh hectares last year.
With possible drop in acreage, rice output of Punjab and Haryana is expected to dip marginally to 110 lakh tonnes and 38.52 lakh tonnes, respectively.
Last season, Punjab and Haryana had a rice output of 113.74 lakh tonnes and 39.76 lakh tonnes.
Together, they contribute 35-40 per cent of rice to the central pool. Paddy sowing will start tomorrow in Punjab and from June 15 in Haryana.
To prevent depletion of underground water table, Punjab and Haryana governments has made it mandatory under Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, not to sow paddy before the recommended period.
With the concern over fast water depletion due to over-exploitation of underground water by farmers for irrigating paddy fields, Punjab and Haryana are encouraging paddy growers to shift to other crops like cotton, maize, sugarcane etc.
Punjab government has already proposed to bring down paddy area by 12 lakh hectares in next five to six years to include maize (4 lakh hectares), cotton (2 lakh hectares), basmati (2 lakh hectares), sugarcane (1.7 lakh hectares) and 80,000 hectares under fruits and vegetables.
