At a time when India is assembly greater than 60% of its edible oil demand by imports at excessive costs and when the farmers of Punjab are focused to develop solely two crops, wheat-paddy, which ensures a Supported by MSP, the Punjab authorities can not. Who is accusing the Center of interfering in agriculture as being a state topic and handed three of its legal guidelines and rejected three agricultural legal guidelines, didn’t enact some coverage / laws and took initiative to encourage farmers to develop oilseeds. ki, which as soon as was its conventional crop however is now largely forgotten.
Experts say {that a} slight push from the state will put together patrons for the oilseed crop due to its heavy consumption and low home manufacturing.
Why Punjab, which has full authority to make legal guidelines on agriculture, will not be taking steps to develop into self-reliant or to take the lead in rising oilseeds. Farmer leaders say that the reply isn’t any lack of political will in addition to no imaginative and prescient of governments coming in direction of diversification of crops.
Punjab used to domesticate about 8 instances extra oilseeds than what it’s cultivating now.
Data obtained from the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana confirmed that in 1967-68, Punjab had an space of 3.99 lakh hectares beneath oilseed cultivation (the best in historical past since 1960-61).
The space declined to 48,900 hectares (provisional) in 2019-20, which is 8 instances lower than it was 5 a long time in the past. Also, the whole manufacturing then was 3.14 lakh tonnes, which decreased to round 56,000 tonnes in 2018-19.
Earlier groundnut, sesame, cotton (kharif crop) whereas sunflower, rapeseed and mustard (rabi crop) have been grown in massive areas.
The space beneath groundnut cultivation in 1967-68 was 2.22 lakh hectares, which has now lowered to simply 1,800 hectares. While manufacturing has come down from 2.40 lakh tonnes to three,600 tonnes, the yield has elevated from 1,024 kg to 1,980 kg per hectare because of good high quality of seeds.
Similarly, the realm beneath rapeseed/mustard has come all the way down to about 3,800 hectares from 1.80 lakh hectares 5 a long time in the past and the manufacturing is now 57,000 tonnes in opposition to 1.40 lakh tonnes. The yield per hectare of this crop has doubled from 778 kg to 1,478 kg per hectare.
Sunflower, which was launched in Punjab within the early Nineties, was 1.03 lakh hectares in 1995-96 which has now lowered to 4,400 hectares and its manufacturing has lowered from 1.61 lakh tons to eight,300 tons. However, its yield has now elevated from 1,566 kg to 1,886 kg per hectare.
Seemum was cultivated on 25,600 hectares in 1974-75 which has now come all the way down to 41,000 hectares whereas its yield has additionally come down from 359 kg to 345 kg per hectare.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Dr Virendra Sardana, Principal Agronomist (Oilseeds) at PAU stated, “Punjab is blessed for agro-climatic situations which might be greatest suited to rising each Kharif and Rabi season oilseeds. We have been main producers of those crops till the start of the Green Revolution when farmers switched to the wheat-rice cycle. This is as a result of assured market value that farmers have develop into accustomed to. The demand for oilseeds could be very excessive in India. This requires solely a small incentive and targeted strategy of the state authorities. Paddy is a well known water-consuming crop, and we aren’t exporting rice, however our valuable ‘floor blue water’. “
“Fortunately, almost all mustard (mustard) grown in Punjab is canola mustard, which is the best of all varieties in terms of health and Punjab can become a major producer of this crop in the country as well. As more Punjab moves towards oilseeds, its dependence on the central government will reduce, which is creating a difficult situation for the state and its farmers just before the recent wheat and paddy procurement season, ”he stated.
“Even although the Punjab authorities buys canola mustard immediately from farmers and exports it beneath its personal established manufacturers akin to Markfed’s Sohna, it’ll quickly be out of inventory because the well-developed western markets of Europe and North America solely Canola makes use of mustard for people. consumption and no different,” he stated, including that Sohna’s ‘Sarson Da Saag’ is already an enormous hit amongst NRIs settled in Europe, Australia and North America.
He stated that cultivating canola mustard as a substitute of wheat would make the farmers a lot happier because it prices much less water, much less time and fewer value, whereas its MSP can also be excellent.
Currently, the whole oil consumption within the state is round 0.54 million tonnes to 0.60 million tonnes. According to knowledge from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, India’s per capita oil consumption is round 19.5 kg.
According to this calculation, Punjab’s consumption might be round 0.54 million tonnes as Punjab has a inhabitants of two.77 crore. And this consumption is 2.07% of the whole oil consumption of the nation.
The gross cropped space of Punjab was estimated at 78.30 lakh hectares (lh) in 2018-19. Of that, 35.20 lakh was beneath wheat cultivation and 31.03 lakh beneath paddy, which was 84.6% of the whole space planted for all crops. This ratio was 32% in 1970–61 and 6.7% in 1960–61. This was the results of the Green Revolution.
“Punjab needs to divert at least 10-12 lakh hectares to other crops. The state can easily increase the area under oilseeds by reviving areas under groundnut, sesame, cotton, mustard oil, sunflower and these crops can be easily grown in 10 to 15 hectares collectively during the Kharif and Rabi seasons. Can. But the state government needs to support its farmers like any other state government if the MSP of any crop falls short, ”Jagmohan Singh, common secretary, BKU (Dakunda), stated farmers can develop something offered They get a assured market. Its yield.
A farmer asks, “Why is the government not able to keep a fund of some 100 crore rupees for crops other than wheat and paddy when needed.”
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
