Plunged from 8.61 L hectares in 2014 to 4.5 L hectares this year. Poor rate of Basmati (fine quality aromatic rice) which Punjab farmers have been getting for the past few years has resulted in reduced acreage and, in the past four years, the area of cultivation has decreased to nearly half under the crop. Scientists say that due to decrease in Basmati cultivation, the area under paddy rice (Parimal varieties) has increased automatically which is bad news for Punjab where 102 out of 141 agricultural blocks have already gone dry. This year, 29.26 lakh hectares were dedicated to rice cultivation in the state out of which close to 24.75 lakh hectares is under paddy (Parimal varieties) and nearly 4.5 lakh hectares under Basmati. Though Basmati is considered to be a major alternative to diverting area from paddy, the area is decreasing under it.