Punjab s honeymoon with paddy
Paddy wasn't a familiar crop in Punjab. The state began rice cultivation just to feed the government's public distribution system (PDS), taking advantage of irrigation and price support system. This became the pride of the Green Revolution: rice in Punjab! The bubble had to burst, sooner or later. The paddy crop of the 2000-20001 rabi season was badly damaged by a fungus Helminthosporium oryzae . The Food Corporation of India (FCI), the official procurement agency of the Union government, refused to buy about 80 per cent of paddy, saying it was substandard. Under the pressure of the farmer's lobby, the government relaxed the paddy procurement laws to buy the substandard paddy. S S Singh Gautam, FCI's manager of quality control, had said, "We have to purchase whatever it is, if the higher authorities are taking decisions either under pressure from the farmer's lobby or in the larger interest of farmers, but the paddy is substandard.'
Gurdev S Khush, renowned rice scientist who is with the International Rice Research Institute in Manila, the Philippines, feels that sowing rice in the May is responsible for the present woes of Punjab farmers. "The May rice is more unsustainable as it demands more water because water loss by evaporation is higher in these months. The crop is also vulnerable to pest and diseases due to high temperature and high humidity.' He suggests that government should come out with some policy initiative to make other crops more attractive for the May season.
This is only part of the problem Punjab faces. After intensive rice/wheat cultivation, the soils are not only hungry for nutrients and thirsty for water but some of have even become toxic. Selenium, a naturally occurring trace element, is widely known as a toxic element. If its concentration in soil increases from 0.5 milligramme (mg) in one kg, the soil is regarded toxic. "Rice cultivation requires the presence of standing water. Being highly soluble, the selenium from the lower soils dissolves and comes up the surface. The water evaporates, leaving the selenium behind and the soil toxic,' explains K S Dhillon of the department of soil science at Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, who has studied the matter. In seleniferous areas of Punjab, selenium levels range from 0.31 mg to 4.55 mg. Even in areas that are not seleniferous, the levels are 0.08-0.55 mg per kg of soil. Rice and wheat are favourites with pests, although the crops were relatively free of insect pests till the 1960s. A recent study shows more than 144 species of plant parasitic nematodes are associated with rice and 90 species with wheat.