The state Agriculture Minister also highlighted a substantial growth of 46.5 per cent in the area under direct seeding of rice (DSR) compared to the previous year.
The Punjab government’s crop diversification drive has helped the state increase the area under basmati cultivation by 12.58 per cent during this kharif season, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said on Sunday.
Long grain paddy cultivation has expanded to 6.71 lakh hectares at present, a significant increase from 5.96 lakh hectares during the previous kharif season, the minister said.
Providing district-wise statistics on basmati cultivation, Khudian said Amritsar led the way with 1.46 lakh hectares under this aromatic rice.
Following Amritsar were Muktsar with 1.10 thousand hectares, Fazilka with 84.9 thousand hectares, Tarn Taran with 72.5 thousand hectares and Sangrur with 49.8 thousand hectares, showing maximum cultivation of basmati in these districts.
The state Agriculture Minister also highlighted a substantial growth of 46.5 per cent in the area under direct seeding of rice (DSR) compared to the previous year.
The area under cultivation using water-saving DSR method has increased to over 2.52 lakh acres from 1.72 lakh acres in the 2023 Kharif season, it said in a statement here.
The state has banned the use of 10 pesticides on basmati to improve the export quality of the aromatic crop to a world-class standard, the minister said.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 18, 2024 | 18:38 IS
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