Punjab, Haryana push for new cultivation method to tackle groundwater crisis

Govts. introduce cash incentive to motivate farmers to adopt direct seeding of rice technique

As the groundwater crises loom large in the country’s key grain-producing States of Punjab and Haryana, both the governments are pushing farmers to move away from the traditional ‘puddling’ practice and instead adopt the direct seeding of rice (DSR) technology this summer (kharif) season.

In a bid to motivate farmers to adopt DSR, the Punjab government has announced to give ₹1,500 per acre incentive to the farmers for sowing paddy through this innovative technology. In the neighbouring State of Haryana, the government has introduced a cash incentive of ₹4,000 per acre to the farmers. This incentive-based scheme will be implemented in 12 districts, including Ambala, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Panipat, Jind, Sonipat, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Rohtak and Hisar.

Generally, farmers in Punjab and Haryana sow paddy by flooding (puddle) their fields with water, which over the years has resulted in a reduction in groundwater levels. Punjab’s average groundwater level has dropped to 170 feet.

With the direct sowing machine, which runs on a dry field, there is no need to flood the field for paddy seeding. After sowing, the field needs water after 21 days. In the traditional method, where fields are needed to be flooded before cultivation, water consumption is very high.

Last season, paddy was sown directly (DSR) in 6 lakh hectares across Punjab and this year it is expected that it will be sown in 12 lakh hectares. The total area under paddy, including the basmati rice varieties, during the last kharif season (2021-22) was 31.45 lakh hectares, according to agriculture department data.

“On an average, the irrigation water requirement of puddle-transplanted rice is 140 cm while in the DSR technique, called ‘tar wattar DSR’, it is 110 cm. There is an irrigation water-saving of about 20% which leads to saving 12 lakh litres of water per acre or 30 lakh litres of water per hectares,” Makhan Singh Bhullar, a principal agronomist at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) said. This step would be instrumental in saving nearly 15%-20% water as compared to the conventional puddling method during the life cycle of crops, he said.

According to government data in Punjab, currently, the water table is falling at a rate of 86 cm per year, leading to a precarious situation where no underground water will be available across the State in the coming 15-20 years.