Nursery Langars Averted $333M Loss to Panjab During 2023 Floods

A study conducted by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, on devastating floods that rocked Panjab in 2023 shows how Panjab’s tradition of langar (community service) averted a $333M loss to the state. The study titled Punjab Floods 2023: Causes, Impacts and Learnings - All India Coordinated Research Project on Agrometeorology has been conducted by PAU’s scientists from the department of climate change and agricultural meteorology. The study says: ‘Unprecedented heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh during 7-11 Jul 2023 caused floods in Panjab state. There was a breach in rivers and choes (seasonal watercourses) due to the down flow of rainwater that caused inundation of fields in Panjab. All floodgates of the Bhakra Dam (on the river Satluj) and Pong Dam (on the river Beas) remained open for many days as heavy rains in catchment areas during July alarmingly increased the water level in the reservoirs. Hundreds of villages were inundated and led to submergence of 221K hectares of fields primarily under rice’ (SDW Vol 2 Issue 28, Story 5). Panjab received 20.9-43.3% higher rainfall than normal during June and July, while Himachal recorded 19.4-75.1% higher rainfall than normal. That is when the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), farmers from Haryana, and PAU offered short duration rice varieties (PR-126 and Pusa Basmati 1509) free of cost to flood-affected farmers as part of Nursery Langar. Affected farmers incurred an expenditure of $30M for re-transplanting the paddy. The study further says, ‘There was a higher state average rice productivity during 2023 (6739 kg/ha) as compared to the previous year 2022 (6479 kg/ha).’