Ludhiana, June 8
In what may put more pressure on underground water and pose problems like paddy glut, farmers in the district have started transplanting paddy, ignoring advice of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) experts to do so after June 15. With elections round the corner, farmers are confident that politics will ensure that paddy of any quality is bought by the government.
The experts at PAU had time and again advised the farmers to transplant paddy only after June 15 to avoid the problems due to higher moisture content and to reduce the pressure on the depleting water table. The media had projected this recommendation. The PAU experts had appealed the farmers in the kisan melas to cultivate late varieties of paddy to get maximum yield with low moisture content.
A survey of some villages revealed that many farmers were transplanting the paddy and many had completed the practice a fortnight back. All the farmers Ludhiana Tribune spoke to were aware of the depleting water table and the directive by the university. Most of them said the higher moisture content was not going to pose any threat to their produce this year as the Chief Minister would make all arrangements this time in view of the coming Lok Sabha elections.
The farmers said they were forced to cultivate the paddy early as the labour was available just after the harvesting of the crop. “It becomes very difficult for us to make the labour available if we cultivate it after June 15. Most of the labourers who migrate from the other states go back as they have no work. We find difficulty in cultivation practices as most of the work is done manually,” said a farmer.
Another farmer said he was aware of the depleting underground water, but he was unable to do anything. “I cannot fight with this problem alone. I am not the only one who is cultivating paddy. I cannot relax when others are cultivating it,” he added. He also said the level of water was going down and he and other farmers had to increase the depth of tubewells.
The experts at PAU said it was after many years of research that the university had directed the farmers to sow only late varieties of paddy. Dr G.S. Nanda, Head of the Department of Plant Breeding and Director Research designate, said if farmers were not listening to experts, they would be in trouble. He said after working for many years on various varieties of paddy, the PAU had come to a conclusion that the late varieties produced more yield, required lesser water than the early varieties and were more resistant to many diseases. He said only after obtaining positive results from the research had the scientists asked the farmers to cultivate only late varieties and transplant the pods after June 15.
Dr Nanda added that this practice of transplanting the paddy in advance was going to harm the produce. “How can these farmers forget the last year’s glut? This year they are again repeating the same mistake. They will have a produce with higher moisture content. This will also add to the depletion of underground water,” he said.
