Early sowing may push water-guzzling PUSA-44’s acreage, warn experts
Despite being discontinued, the farmers are opting for the long-duration higher yield variety with the state advancing the transplantation date to June 1
After the chief minister’s announcement to start paddy transplantation from June 1 this year, farmers are opting for long-duration PUSA-44 variety, raising the hackles of the experts who say that the efforts to improve paddy cropping patterns, made in the past few years, will go to waste.
Last year, the area under the variety was reduced to 16%, and it was being phased out as two years ago, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), which has produced the variety, had announced to stop the seed production and had asked farmers to stop its cultivation. However, some farmers and companies have kept the seed, which is now being sold for setting up nurseries.
To start the transplantation of paddy saplings the farmers would start making setting nurseries from May 1. In the state, paddy is sown over nearly 30 lakh hectares (75 lakh acres).
Sukhwinder Singh, a farmer from Samrala, said that he will also cultivate PUSA-44 as it gives a higher yield, and grain is also sturdy, but seeds are in shortage. He added that more than environment conservation, farmers are concerned about the yield.
According to an eminent plant breeder with expertise in paddy, Dr GS Khush the cultivation of PUSA-44 should stop as it would waste all efforts made in the past few years to bring change in the cropping pattern of paddy.
“Bringing back PUSA-44 into cultivation will eventually lead to an increase in area under the variety. It is a known fact that the variety gives higher grain output but it damages the environment as it produces higher biomass and consumes 20-25% more water,” he added. As an average, a kilogram of rice consumes 3,367 litres of water.
It needs to be mentioned that PUSA-44 was preferred among farmers and rice millers for its higher grain output of about 68-72kg of rice while new short-duration varieties give 66kg from 100 kg of paddy stock. The PUSA-44 variety is also preferred by the rice millers.
Last month, CM Bhagwant Mann announced the start of the transplantation date on June 1 and said that the state will be divided into four parts for staggered 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 the time of procurement.
“We want the crop to be mature early so that it is of the best quality and fetches high rates,” the CM had said.
According to retired secretary agriculture Kahan Singh Pannu, who was behind ‘The Punjab Preservation of Subsoil Water Act, enacted in 2009, which mandates late sowing of paddy starting from June 20 or even beyond that, said: “Paddy transplantation should start from June 20 in a phased manner.”
“I hope that state will act as a saviour of civilisation called Punjab by protecting and preserving its scarce and precious resource of groundwater,” he said, adding that Dr MS Swaminathan had observed that “if conservation of natural resources goes wrong, nothing else will go right”.
According to Pannu, the central groundwater board has set a deadline of 2039 when all aquifers under Punjab will go dry in case the rate of fall of subsoil water continues at the same pace.
He informed that PUSA44 has suffered varietal fatigue and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), (an institute of ICAR) has stopped producing mother seed.
A top official in the state government said as per the annual practice, the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, has sent no recommendations regarding the paddy transplantation schedule.
Punjab rice millers’ association head Tarsem Saini accepted that PUSA-44 gives a higher rice outturn ratio (OTR), but they have not asked farmers to grow the variety. “We are against hybrid varieties, which the government has announced to ban,” he said.
One demand fulfilled: BKU (Ekta-Ughrahan)
BKU (Ekta-Ughrahan) Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said that though small, the demand of the farmers has been fulfilled. “Farmers feel that due to late sowing, crop holds more water than permissible limits of 14%, and it fetches low price from the procurement agencies”, he said, adding that other bigger demand of MSP and assured procurement is still pending.
He clarified that farmers don’t want to grow paddy as it is not a native crop of Punjab and is a water guzzler. Speaking on PUSA-44 being preferred, Kokrikalan said that farmers are purchasing the seeds as they are available in the market if it is stopped they will not purchase. He accepted that farmers are not worried about the problem of subsoil water they are still focused on increasing yield.
