Vijay C Roy
Chandigarh, March 24
Having reaped a rich harvest last year as mustard prices crossed Rs 7,000 per quintal in the open market against the MSP of Rs 4,650 per quintal, more and more farmers in Punjab and Haryana have shifted to mustard cultivation. They are hopeful of a good yield this year too (harvested in March) as prices are firm on account of the Russia-Ukraine war.
While Haryana is anticipating that the total area under mustard will increase by 1.19 lakh hectares and touch 7.66 lakh hectares in the ongoing Rabi season with the estimated production of 15 lakh tonnes, believed to be an all-time high, Punjab, despite witnessing a considerable increase in area, is nowhere close to what it was nearly five decades ago.
In 1974-75, area under mustard in Punjab was 1.8 lakh hectares, which was the largest ever. It came down to 1.01 lakh hectares in 1995-96 and since then, it has been dropping. Last year, the area under mustard was 31,000 hectares and the Agriculture Department anticipates that the area will touch 50,000 hectares in the ongoing rabi season.
Gurvinder Singh, Director of Agriculture, Punjab, said, “Last year, the crop fetched better returns for farmers, so they were encouraged to bring more area. This marketing season (2021-22), the area under mustard will touch 50,000 hectares.”
“We anticipate that our area under mustard will increase significantly this year. Normally, prices come down when the new crop starts arriving, but it doesn’t hold true for this year. The produce has just started arriving in mandis and farmers are getting prices much above the MSP,” said Jagraj Dandi, Joint Director (Stats), Department of Agriculture amp; Farmers Welfare, Haryana.
The Centre has fixed the MSP of Rs 5,200 per quintal for mustard this season. Insiders maintained that private buyers were offering better remuneration, much above the MSP. For both states, mustard is the main oilseed crop which constitutes around 96-99 per cent of the total oilseed production in the respective states.
Punjab, Haryana see increase in area under mustard cultivation
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