Panjab Wheat Growers Fight Pests & Fungi Amid Challenges

Wheat growers in Panjab, already delayed by tardy paddy procurement during harvest season, are on alert this Rabi (winter) season due to both recent pink stem borer damage and an impending threat of yellow rust fungus. Although the sown area dipped marginally to 3.47M hectares—slightly less than the 3.49M hectares in 2023—many farmers who lost crops to the pink stem borers ploughed back their fields and resowed. While this re-sowing is not expected to delay harvesting, as rising temperatures in the coming months will accelerate maturation, agriculture experts note that pest pressure earlier in the season was exacerbated by warmer-than-usual conditions in November 2024. As the food and supplies department is yet to finalize its wheat procurement target—usually set 5% above last year’s 12M metric tonnes—farmers remain focused on maintaining healthy crops through temperature fluctuations, pesticide challenges, and fungal risks, hoping to secure a robust harvest despite this year’s volatile conditions. At the same time, after the demand in 2023, the Panjab govt. has reintroduced kinnow as the weekly fruit in mid-day meals for its 19,120 govt. schools, effective 1 Jan (WD Vol 2, Issue 7, Story 7). However, farmers in key kinnow-growing areas are skeptical that they will benefit. In 2024, Punjab Agro directly purchased kinnow from farmers, but this time schools are mostly sourcing from local vendors. Many farmers point out that distributing kinnow only on Saturdays reduces overall consumption. Meanwhile, a recent series of Goods and Services Tax raids on several land developers in Panjab have exposed widespread violations of the Punjab Real Estate Regulatory Authority regulations. Investigations revealed that many builders have been selling plots and other properties through pre-launch offers, so-called ‘land pooling’ agreements without actual land.