Though power and rain-starved for most part of the kharif season,Punjab and Haryana have defied all forecasts of a shortfall in paddy production and procurement targets this year. While country-wise forecasts have pegged over 15 per cent drop in total production of the crop this year,Haryana on Monday recorded all-time highest arrival of paddy while production and procurement in Punjab are also close to the record mark. Surpassing the highest arrival of 45.11 lakh MT of paddy recorded in the year 2005,total paddy arrival in Haryana has touched 45.55 lakh MT even as procurement is officially to end on December 31. In Punjab,total procurement by government agencies and private traders has reached 141.74 lakh MT,close to the record of 142 lakh MT achieved in the year 2005. This despite deficient rains and area under super-fine varieties not procured for the central pool going up considerably in the two states. While assured irrigation through canals and tubewells is primarily why paddy in the two states is relatively immune to weather conditions,both farmers and state governments had to incur high costs to tide over one of the worst power crises witnessed during the paddy season. The power boards of the two states have footed huge bills for ensuring four to five hours of supply to paddy fields even as farmers spent heavily on submersible pumps and diesel. P S Rangi of the Punjab Farmers Commission attributes the high production to a combination of various factors. Whenever the weather is dry,yields go up owing to controlled irrigation. The crop gets water only when needed bringing down the incidence of pest attacks and crop diseases. Also,now greater area in the state of Punjab is under high-yielding varieties such as PAU 201,which is registering yield of over 35 quintals per acre. The area under paddy has also gone up though much of it has been towards basmati variety Pusa 1121. Add to this the high costs incurred on saving the paddy crop by farmers,many of whom replaced their tubewells with costlier submersible pumps and burnt diesel to keep the pumps running, he says.
