Are Vegetables, Fruits & Basmati Rice An Answer to Panjab’s Agrarian Crises?

In village Raidharana of Sangrur district in the south of Panjab—a region infamous for its high farmer suicide rate—36-year-old Mani Kaler is rewriting the narrative. Despite leaving more than half of his 24-acre farm fallow for four months each year to rejuvenate the soil, Kaler earns an impressive profit of around USD 82K annually. His farm is also a significant contributor to rural employment—around 100 laborers are engaged for eight months of the year. Kaler’s journey began in 2013 when he decided to move away from his family’s practice of leasing out land and not cultivating it by themselves. He started by cultivating 2.5 acres to produce flower seeds under contract with a private company. Encouraged by early results, he expanded to vegetable farming on 5 acres, and by 2018 had established nursery cultivation on 10 acres. By 2024, he had reclaimed all 24 acres and converted the entire holding into a model of diversified and profitable farming. Meanwhile, in central Panjab, in 2014-15, 2.5K hectares in Kapurthala were under muskmelon cultivation. In 2024-25, the area was reduced to 900 hectares. Skyrocketing seed costs, climate change and blight caused farmers to take to maize cultivation.The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has now come up with its hybrid, low-cost muskmelon variety and has started popularizing it in the red-soiled Dona belt of Doaba. On the paddy front, in 2023-24, Panjab produced 2.6M tonnes of basmati rice mostly in the northern districts. The production increased to 3.2M tonnes in 2024-25. Due to international demand, the 1,121 variety is being sold at USD 58 per quintal in some areas. Ranjit Singh Jossan, vice-president, Basmati Rice Miller and Exporter Association, said with the ban on hybrid varieties and Pusa 44, basmati rice had become a viable and sustainable option. He highlighted that basmati not only consumed significantly less water, but also fetched premium prices in both national and international markets. This year, the state government is targeting 1M hectares—a significant jump from 596K hectares in 2023 (earlier coverage).