The area under basmati is set to dip 30% in Punjab on account of low prices fetched by growers and problems encountered in sowing of high-yielding 1509 variety last year. This will result area under common varieties and grade-A varieties to go up significantly in the state. The exporters have held policies of the government responsible for the plight of growers and dip in area under basmati.
The state is expecting basmati area of about 5 lakh hectares (LH) in current Kharif season, which is about 35% lower than what the state saw acreage in last sowing season. As per data compiled by Punjab Agriculture Department, area under Basmati in Punjab stood at 7.63 LH and 8.62 LH in 2015-16 and 2014-15, respectively.
The major basmati growing areas in the state include Amritsar and Gurdaspur which have seen sharp dip in sowing of basmati paddy this year. Out of the 1.73 LH of total paddy last year in Gurdaspur district, 60% of area was under basmati. But this year, area under basmati has shrunk to 30% of total sowing area and rest is with other varieties. In Amritsar, area under basmati went down by 25,000 hectares out of total area of 1.80 LH.