Punjab - Region Profile

Punjab is an Indo-Iranian word meaning "the land of five rivers". The total geographical area of this state is nearly 5.03 million hectare and it has a total population of 27.7 million. It extends from the latitudes 29.30° north to 32.32° north and longitudes 73.55° east to 76.50° east. This region, with its fertile alluvial soils, slopes gently from an elevation of about 900 feet (275 metres) in the northeast to about 550 feet (170 metres) in the southwest. The south-western part of the plains, formerly strewn with sand dunes, has mostly been levelled off with the expansion of irrigation projects. Some two-fifths of Punjab’s population is engaged in the agricultural sector, which accounts for a significant segment of the state’s gross product. Indian Punjab is called the "Granary of India" or "India's bread-basket". It produces 10.26% of India's cotton, 19.5% of India's wheat, and 11% of India's rice. Table 1 illustrates the current area, productivity and production statistics of major crops in Punjab.



Nutrient consumption in Punjab in the past decade is given in Fig. 2. Fertilizer consumption in Punjab at 1.713 million MT of nutrients during 2013-14 witnessed a sharp decline of 13.1% over 2012-13. Decline in consumption of total fertilizer nutrients was noticed both in Kharif and Rabi seasons. Kharif : Rabi share in total consumption of fertilizer nutrients changed marginally from 46:54 during 2012-13 to 44:56 during 2013-14.

Nutrient wise analysis shows, there was a decline in consumption of all the three nutrients during both the seasons except increase in K₂O consumption noticed during Rabi 2013-14. The consumption of N at 1.364 million MT and P₂O₅ at 0.325 million MT during 2013-14 registered decline of 8.2% and 29.7% respectively, over 2012-13. However, the consumption of K₂O at 24 thousand MT recorded a marginal decline of 0.2% during the period. NPK use ratio changed from 61.7:19.2:1 during 2012-13 to 56.8:13.5:1 during 2013-14. Per hectare consumption of fertilizer nutrients declined from 249.5 kg during 2012-13 to 216.7 kg during 2013-14. Using the area and production of major crops, the total nutrient (N, P₂O₅ and K₂O) removal by each crop was calculated and a nutrient balance sheet was prepared (table 2).

Table 1: Latest Crop Production Statistics of Punjab-2012-13

Parameters	Rice	Wheat	Maize	Total Cereals	Gram	Total Pulses	Total Foodgrains	Total Oilseeds	Sugarcane
Area	2845	3512	129	6502	2	64.4	6566.4	51.4	82
Production	11374	16591	475	28490	2.8	53	28543	69.4	5919
Productivity	3998	4724	3682	4382	1400	823	4347	1350	71313

Area ('000 ha); Production ('000 tonnes); Productivity (kg/ha); # Production and Productivity in 1000 bales of 180 kg each

Table 2: Nutrient balance sheet for major crops of Punjab (2012-13)

Crop	Area (in '000 ha)	Production (in '000 tonnes)	Nutrient Removal (kg/tonne)			Total Removal (tonnes)
			N	P2O5	K2O	N	P2O5	K2O
Rice	2845	11374	20.1	11.2	30	228617.4	127388.8	341220
Wheat	3512	16591	24.4	8.6	32.8	404820.4	142682.6	544184.8
Maize	129	475	8.2	3.1	15.5	3895	1472.5	7362.5
Total Pulses	64.4	53	40	5	20	2120	265	1060
Total Oilseeds	51.4	69.4	54	14	46	3747.6	971.6	3192.4
Sugarcane	82	5919	1.7	0.2	2	10062.3	1183.8	11838
		Total removal by major crops				653262.7	273964.3	908857.7
		Total fertilizer consumption in Punjab				1485700	462480	24060
		Consumption * Efficiency factor				594280	138744	16842
		Balance/Deficit				-58982.7	-135220.3	-892015.7

Efficiency of N=40%; P2O5= 30%; and K2O=70%

*Crop production and fertilizer use data are retrieved from Fertilizer Statistics, 2013-14, The Fertilizer Association of India, New Delhi