May 2020, South Asia

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana are shifting away from paddy cultivation, as per news report, choosing instead to grow cotton, due to lack of availability of about one million migrant labourers. The transplantation of paddy seedlings from nursery beds to fields being a highly labour-intensive process and requiring specialised knowledge, the farmers depend on labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. While mechanised transplantation is possible, equipment for this largely needs to be imported. The labour shortage might just be a blessing in disguise the Punjab and Haryana governments, which have long failed in encouraging farmers to diversify their crops. Many farmers in both states, as per a report in The Indian Express, are sowing cotton on at least half of their farm area. The Punjab agriculture department has spoken of targeting an increase in the acreage under cotton in this kharif season to 5.5 lakh hectares (lh) from 3.92 lh last year, and a reduction of 3 lh in the total area under paddy in the state.