Although the kharif season 2023–24 was hampered by flooding in July and August, Punjab is anticipating a record harvest of paddy grain, according to officials. The food bowl of the nation, as the state is called, anticipates paddy output to surpass 205 lakh metric tons, with an average yield that is more than four quintals per acre higher than it was the previous year. Director of the Punjab Agriculture Department stated, “We anticipate the paddy production to cross 205 lakh MT this year.” In 2022–2023, the state produced 205 lakh MT.
In 2020–21, it produced 208 lakh MT, which was its maximum output. The most recent crop cutting experiments carried out by the state agriculture department guarantee that the average yield of the state is 4.60 quintal more than previous year, at 69.39 quintal per hectare. The district of Malerkotla recorded the highest yield of 84.13 quintal per hectare as a result of the crop cutting experiments.
This was followed by Barnala with 81.06 quintal per hectare, Jalandhar with 77.55 quintal, Sangrur with 76.36 quintal, Moga with 76.30 quintal, Ludhiana with 76.03 quintal, Faridkot with 75.10 quintal, Kapurthala with 74.64 quintal, Bathinda with 72.80 quintal, and Fatehgarh Sahib with 72.18 quintal. Punjab has almost 32 lakh hectares of paddy crop this season. Approximately 6 lakh hectares of the entire paddy area were planted with basmati rice.
