Jalandhar: Melon cultivation is declining rapidly in Punjab’s traditional areas – Shahkot in Jalandhar and Dona in Kapurthala. Farmers are shifting to spring maize cultivation, raising concerns among experts about rising irrigation demand and ecological risks. Melon acreage in Jalandhar district is set to decline from 2,904 hectares in 2019-2020 to about 2,100 hectares in 2024, while spring maize acreage has seen a sharp rise – from 9,000 hectares in 2020 to about 25,000 hectares this year. Farmers cite several reasons for this trend: high input costs, including expensive seeds and rising labour charges, increased risk of blight disease due to moisture, unpredictable weather and declining profits. Spring maize, on the other hand, offers relatively stable returns, prompting many to turn to it. But this shift has raised concerns. Spring maize consumes even more water than paddy, a crop that is already being criticised for its impact on Punjab’s groundwater table. “I used to sow melon on 50 acres till three years ago. This year it has come down to just six acres. From next year, I will not grow melon at all,” said Gurvinder Singh, a farmer from Navan Pind Donewal village in Shahkot.
Gurvinder Singh has shifted most of his land to spring maize cultivation. He is not alone. Sher Singh from Nasirwal village in Sultanpur Lodhi has reduced melon cultivation from 150 acres to 60 acres and planted spring maize on about 200 acres. “Melon is now coming here from states like Gujarat and Rajasthan,” he said. Balkar Singh, also from Navan Pind, has similarly reduced melon cultivation from 65 acres to less than 10 acres. The impact of this change is visible in Shahkot and neighbouring Kapurthala’s Dona area, which were once known for abundant melon production. The once thriving Rupewal Mandi in Shahkot – once one of Asia’s largest melon markets, supplying Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and other regions – has now lost its old identity. “Earlier, more than 300 trucks used to leave daily carrying melons grown in Jalandhar,” said Surinder Singh, a retired accountant with the local marketing committee. “If this continues, Rupewal Mandi will be nowhere to be seen.” Local varieties such as Madhu, Bobby and Farm Glory are now rarely seen in the fields. Horticulture department officials confirmed that a sharp increase in maize cultivation in the spring is badly affecting other crops, including melons. As more farmers in Punjab move away from traditional horticulture and towards water-intensive crops, experts warn that groundwater depletion and loss of crop diversity could pose serious challenges to the region’s agricultural future.
