‘Groundwater distress’: Experts not in favour of paddy sowing from June 1 in Punjab

As the paddy sowing timeline has been pushed to June 1 this Kharif season, from mid or late June in previous years, experts have warned that it could prove to be ‘extremely detrimental’ to the groundwater table.

According to the data available, the groundwater table is already depleting at a steep pace (over a metre every year).

Though an official notification has not been issued so far, chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s recent announcements at public forums give credence to the early sowing. He has assured farmers that the state’s canals have enough water for irrigation.

The Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, enacted in 2009, mandates late sowing of paddy.

According to BS Dhillon, former vice-chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), it is going to be ‘suicidal’ for the state as it took years of hard work to bring in a law for conserving groundwater.

“In my opinion, the system of late sowing is going smooth and should not be disturbed,” he said. He said there are short duration varieties such as PR126 and PR 121 to support the late sowing. He said that if early sowing is permitted, the farmers will shift to PUSA44, water-guzzling variety.

According to Punjab agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, the state agriculture department is working on a sowing schedule, and a notification will be issued shortly.

He added that low rates for crops lead to unrest among the peasantry, which the state government does not want at any cost.

Experts say the move, if implemented, will be detrimental to the state’s interests as it is already grappling with the grave concern of depleting water table.

Addressing the media last month, Mann said the state will be divided into four parts for crop transplantation. “We are imposing a ban on hybrid seeds. We will provide quality seeds such as PR126, 127 and 131 to the farmers,” he said, adding that delayed crop maturing increases moisture content and leads to rejection or lower rates at time of procurement. “We want the crop to be mature early so that it is of the best quality fetches high rates,” the CM said.

As an annual practice, the PAU in Ludhiana recommends dates to the state government for paddy transplantation. However, it is yet to be done this year.

Senior PAU scientists, requesting not to be named, have expressed apprehensions about the early sowing. PAU vice-chancellor Dr SS Gosal was not available for comments despite repeated attempts.

Under the Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, farmers are prohibited from raising paddy nurseries before May and the beginning date of transplanting is to be decided by the state government.

Experts have raised concerns about the early sowing also for the reason that the general belief was that paddy transplantation will begin closer to June 30 this year, with high use of short duration varieties.

After the law came into force in 2009, the governments adjusted the sowing timelines as per the needs and demand from the farmers.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in its tenure, started the practice of staggering the beginning of the paddy transplantation, which generally used to start on June 13, keeping in view the needs and seasons impacting the three belts of the state – Doaba, Majha and Malwa.

There are 14.5 lakh irrigation tubewells in the state and in the peak summer season, the crop depends on them amid a lack of precipitation.

The delay in transplantation is to support the crop during the monsoon, which onsets in Punjab on July 1. The National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, raised concerns over depleting water table and said if the depletion continues at same pace, the state will become a ‘desert’.

“Early transplantation means more use of water, which is a grave concern for the state,” said former Punjab agriculture secretary Kahan Singh Pannu, who was behind the enactment of the 2009 law.