Despite the state government’s push for diversification, the expansion of paddy sowing area continues to extend India news

The latest data has been highlighted that this year, the paddy anreg will also see an increase despite the ongoing efforts of the state government to diversify the water-watery crops.

Data accessed by Indian Express shows that many districts have reported adequate increase in paddy sowing. For example, Bathinda jumped from 1.20 lakh hectares last year to increase by 1.81 lakh hectares by more than 60,000 hectares this year. Sangrur, Patiala and Mudh also recorded a sufficient increase of about 50,000 hectares, 31,000 hectares and 21,000 hectares respectively.

Experts say the increase in paddy is inspired by the minimum support price (MSP), availability of irrigation and reluctant procurement of farmers to take risks with alternative crops. A rapid increase in acres may further reduce the groundwater reserves of the state, which was repeatedly raised by environmentalists and agricultural economists.

A senior agricultural officer acknowledged the trend, saying, “Despite awareness drives and subsidies for alternative crops, paddy economics keeps back the farmers, especially in the absence of a guaranteed market for options such as maize”.

As the state head stares in another year of paddy cultivation, the push for crop diversification is again facing a difficult fight.

In contrast, the area under maize cultivation, which the government is promoting water saving for paddy, has seen only 66,334 hectares till 2 July this year, as is compared to about 80,000 hectares in the previous year’s season. Sowing of maize is still going on. The total maize region is about 3 percent of the total paddy area, which outlines the continuous dominance of paddy in the crop pattern of Punjab.

This year, the Punjab government has launched a pilot project to increase maize cultivation in six districts – Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Bathinda, Sangrur, Pathankot and Gurdaspur. Under this scheme, farmers who remove their land from paddy to kharif maize will get an incentive of Rs 17,500 per hectare (about Rs 7,085 per acre), as the government aims to May about 12,000 hectares (29,640 acres) under the paddy.

Kharif maize, during the monsoon season, with paddy, mainly depends on rainfall and requires 3–5 times irrigation compared to 22–30 cycles by paddy depending on long, medium and short-term paddy varieties. Experts call this change “important”, as Punjab’s groundwater resources have been tireless stress due to intensive paddy cultivation for decades, but are disappointed that the state has only very few areas for diversification against paddy sector in the state.

Interestingly, some districts have shown a remarkable push in maize cultivation. Ropar (Rupnagar) jumped from just 110 hectares to just 110 hectares on July 2, 2024, from July 2, 2025 to 19,200 hectares. Pathankot extended its maize area from 2,210 hectares during the same period. Gurdaspur also saw an improvement, in which the area is growing from 270 hectares from 700 hectares so far.

However, seven districts in Punjab have yet to sow an acre under the crop. These districts include Barnala, Faridkot, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Mansa, Muktar and Malkotla. In particular, in the morning, maize cultivation had reached about 5,500 hectares by this time last year.