E-Paper
Highest wheat producer in Punjab, Sangrur sees lowest per hectare yield in last decade
This is the first time in the last one decade when the wheat yield in Sangrur has dipped below the lowest 2015-16 figures of 48 quintals per hectare
: The highest wheat producer in Punjab, Sangrur district, this rabi season, is witnessing the lowest yield of the crop in the past decade at 41.66 quintals per hectare and a drop of 11 quintals per hectare as compared to the last year.
This is the first time in the last one decade when the wheat yield has dipped below the lowest 2015-16 figures of 48 quintals per hectare. It was 52.65 per hectare in 2020-21, said officials of the agriculture department.
“The district ranked on top in the last five years when it comes to production and yield of wheat. Besides, the district had witnessed increase in wheat yield every year and this is for the first time when it recorded such a decline,” Chief Agriculture Officer Jaswinder Singh Grewal said.
Even though the total wheat yield figures of the district are not available, Sangrur is leading in the procurement of the crop with 8,35,394 tonnes purchased so far followed by Ludhiana district with the procurement of 6,51,654 tonnes of wheat.
As per the figures of the agriculture department, the district witnessed highest per hectare wheat yield in 2018-19 at 58 quintals per hectare. It recorded the second highest 57.67 quintals per hectare yield in 2019-20. The yield was 51.69 quintals per hectare in 2012-13.
Beant Singh of Chatha Nanhera village in Sangrur, said, “I had sown wheat in 12 acres but in three acres, I got only 45kg yield.”
Ran Singh Chatha, general secretary BKU Sidhupr, Sangrur, said, “drastic drop in wheat yield has caused huge loss to the farmers. Some farmers have committed suicide across the state due to the loss. The government should help them out of this crisis.”
Gobinder Singh Mangwal, block president of the BKU Ugrahan, said, “farmers are struggling in repaying loan instalments. Government must help them with a bonus of ₹500 per quintal as soon as possible.”
The agriculture experts have termed intense heat waves in mid-March as the reason behind the drastic dip in the wheat yield in the state.
The state government is likely to fall short of its set target of procuring 135 lakh tonnes of wheat this season.
“We are expecting to wind-up procurement at 90-100 lakh tonnes, a shortfall of 35-45 lakh tonnes,” a senior officer of the state food and civil supplies department had earlier said on condition of anonymity.
