Jalandhar, June 2: Concerned over the depleting water table in 110 of the total 138 blocks of the state, the Punjab Agriculture Department plans to encourage farmers to sow alternative crops and reduce the land under paddy cultivation. This season the department has set a target of reducing land under paddy cultivation by over 50,000 hectares from 28.18 lakh hectare to 27.68 lakh hectare. Agriculture Director Dr Mangal Singh Sandhu said, “We will encourage farmers to sow maize, cotton, vegetables and pulses.” Jalandhar Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO) Swatantra Kumar Aeri and his Kapurthala counterpart Manohar Singh also said they would reduce land under paddy cultivation under their respective blocks. Aeri said, “All the ten blocks namely Jalandhar East, Jalandhar West, Nakodar, Lohian, Shahkot, Nurmahal, Rurka, Phillaur, Adampur and Bhogpur fall under the dark zone due to excessive usage of underground water.” Aeri further said last year paddy had been sown on 1,65,000 hectares of land out of the total 2,40,648 hectares of cultivable land in Jalandhar district. “The district agriculture department this year is planning to reduce area under paddy cultivation by 4,000 hectare.” Manohar Singh said, “In Kapurthala district, paddy was transplanted on 1,12,000 hectares of the total 1,35,000 hectares of cultivable land last year. This year the department plans on reducing the land under paddy cultivation by around 15 percent and ask farmers not to sow paddy on more than 95,000 hectares.”