Paddy sowing kicks off in 5 Malwa districts

PAU had suggested to start transplantation from June 20 amid concerns of depleting groundwater

- Gurpreet Singh Nibber

CHANDIGARH: Paddy sowing began in five districts of Punjab's Malwa belt --Faridkot, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Muktsar and Fazilka -- on Sunday, June 1, in keeping with the early schedule for transplantation notified by the state government last week.

Though agriculture department officials could not readily provide data on how much area was covered on the first day, an official said that "farmers are enthusiastic about the early schedule".

The crop, this season, is expected to be grown over more than 31 lakh hectares (76 lakh acres).

The water guzzling crop has seen an increase in area by 2 lakh hectares in the last three years.

Schedule recommended by agri varsity In March, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, has sent recommendations to the state government for starting transplantation in Muktsar, Faridkot, Mansa, Bathinda, Ferozepur, and Fazilka from June 20. As per the advisory, Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Roopnagar, SAS Nagar, and Fatehgarh Sahib districts were to start from June 23 and Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, SBS Nagar, Ludhiana, Malerkotla, Moga, Patiala, Sangrur and Barnala were to start from June 26.