The Paddy Pivot

Repurposing govt expenditure on paddy production and procurement or creating new incentives for millet production could encourage farmers to switch

- Amit Kapoor, Pradeep Puri & Ananya Khurana Respectively chair, senior fellow, and senior researcher, Institute for Competitiveness

INTENSIVE PADDY CULTIVATION in India has long supported millions of livelihoods, but today this very lifeline is hindering the nation's progress towards sustainability. As of 2023-24, paddy cultivation occupied 36% (47.82 million hectares) of the total area under foodgrain production. If current resource-intensive methods continue, methane and nitrous oxide emissions from paddy cultivation could surge 35-60% by 2030, due to the over-use of water and fertilizers and paddy residue burning. This underscores the urgency for Indian agriculture to rethink its practices in pursuit of sustainability.

Particularly, agrarian states like Punjab and Haryana, which contribute only 8.8% and 3.8% respectively to the national pool of food grains, can reduce paddy production without jeopardizing national food security. Instead, central and eastern states of India, like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Bihar that have abundant land and water resources, can intensify paddy production. The declining agricultural growth rates in Punjab (1.4%) and Haryana (4.1%) over the past five years further highlight the need for moving away from paddy for a sustainable future.