Paddy contribution of Punjab, Haryana to drop by 7%

With fresh arrival of non-basmati paddy becoming negligible, total procurement of paddy from Punjab and Haryana for the central pool this season is all set to dip by up to 7 per cent on inclement weather conditions and non-sowing of high yielding PAU 201 variety.

The paddy contribution of Punjab, which contributes 35 per cent of rice to central pool, is likely to get restricted to 129 lakh tonnes, down by 9.5 lakh tonnes (6 per cent) from last season's contribution of 138.5 lakh tonnes, a senior official of the Food Corporation of India said.

Similarly, neighbouring state of Haryana is also anticipating its paddy contribution to central pool going down to 24.50 lakh tonnes against last season's procurement of 26.36 lakh tonnes, an official of Haryana Food and Supplies department said.

Several districts of both states have observed moderate to heavy decline in arrival of paddy crop during kharif marketing season 2010-11.

In Punjab, Bathinda, Sangrur, Faridkot and Ludhiana saw heavy reduction in crop arrival in to grain markets by 23 per cent, 15 per cent, 13 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

In Haryana, three districts of Kurukshetra, Sirsa and Yamunanagar faced drop in arrival by 29 per cent, 11 per cent and 20 per cent respectively, official said.

While the major reason in Punjab for dip in paddy yield may be ascribed to non-sowing of PAU 201 variety along with heavy flooding of fields causing damage to crop, experts pointed out.

Punjab government this year asked farmers not to sow PAU 201 variety after state rice millers complaining of high percentage of damage and discoloration in this variety while converting it to rice.

"PAU 201 variety has an average yield of 34 to 36 quintals per acre, which is almost 7 to 8 quintals per acre more than the yield of traditional varieties like PR 118, PR 120, HKR 47, etc," they said.

Last year, PAU 201 variety covered almost 30 per cent of total area under paddy cultivation in Punjab.

This year's heavey monsoon caused massive flooding of several areas of Punjab and Haryana that damaged grain filling of paddy crop, experts said.

"On an average 2-2.5 quintals per acres drop has been witnessed in terms of paddy yield this season," a senior official Punjab Agriculture department said.

Increase in basmati area would also impact the overall yield of paddy crop this season, experts further reasoned while adding, yield of basmati crop varied between 12-18 quintals per acre against yield of 28-29 quintals per acre in non-basmati varieties.

Area under basmati crop in Punjab and Haryana jumped to 7 lakh hectares each. Last year, area under basmati in Punjab and Haryana stood at 6.5 lakh hectares and 3.92 lakh hectares, respectively.

Sensing drop in paddy arrival, Punjab and Haryana have revised their paddy output for current season. Punjab is now expecting paddy production to be in the range of 155-160 lakh tonnes, as against last season's output of 167.70 lakh tonnes.

Haryana expects rice production of 32 lakh tonnes, as compared  With rice production of 36.25 lakh tonnes in 2009-10.