Punjabs area under direct seeding of rice (DSR) has increased to 6.01lakh hectares(12.02 lakh acres) or close to 20% of its total under the water-guzzler crop, yet fallen short of the target of 10 lakh hectares.
The only consolation for the farmers is that paddy transplanting by DSR has increased almost 20% from last year. Otherwise, total paddy (which includes parmal and basmati) was grown in 30.48 lakh hectares this year, a decline from last years 31.49 lakh hectares. Those 1 lakh hectares shifted to , maize, and other crops, 53,000 hectares to cotton alone, which now covered 3.04 lakh hectares against last years 2.51 lakh hectares.
Given the availability of cheap labour and rain, thestate Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture departmentclaimed that the goal of bringing 10 lakh hectares under DSR by weaning the farmers away from conventional method was always unrealistic. Transplantation done, the department on Wednesday released the figure of 6.01 lakh hectares under DSR (19.70%of the area under paddy and basmati), which is the highest ever that Punjabs remote sensing centre has measured. This saved 15% water.