The direct seeding methodology for paddy cultivation is gaining popularity among the farmers in Punjab. Corporate houses like Pepsico India and Bayer Crop Science has come forward to promote this methodology which not only saves water but also the input cost. Besides, these houses, individual farmers and state agricultural universities are also making efforts to hone the technology for wider acceptance in the future. With combined efforts,the total area under this methodology would may cross 10,000 acres during the ongoing paddy season.
The methodology including paddy direct seeder can save about 30 per cent of water in the direct seeded fields and also can reduce farmers cultivation cost by '2,500 per acre, as no manual labour is needed to transplant paddy.
Started in 2006, by Pepsico India, the direct seeding was carried out in the fields of 12 farmers, covering about 20 acres. In 2009, Pepsico has carried out direct seeding in 4,800 acres benefiting over 1,000 farmers alone in Punjab and this year it expects to cover 7,000 acres in Punjab during the ongoing paddy season. Also, the company has entered into agreement for buy back arrangements with the farmer, whose land has been cultivated under this methodology.
Visualising the popularity, even Bayer Crop Science, India and Punjab State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation (Markfed) signed a formal MoU recently to collaborate to promote and develop complete package of Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) in Punjab to save depleted water through present practice of transplanted rice. The DSR project shall be initiated on approximately 500 Acres of field located in 13 districts of Punjab, which would be expanded up to 20,000 acres in five districts of Punjab in the next 3 to 5 years. Markfed have more than 50,000 acres under contract farming for Basmati rice in Punjab and has a buyback arrangement from farmers for domestic and international consumption thus earning a substantial foreign exchange. The total 500 acres of DSR will include acres of approved Basmati varieties.
Speaking to Business Standard, PepsiCo India, General Manager-Agriculture, Sushil Sankhiyan, PepsiCo India, said, “Paddy cultivation is known to be very water intensive. Over a period of time, this has resulted in a decline of the water table in Punjab. We as a part of its effort to improve sustainability in Indian agriculture and to reduce water consumption, has introduced this unique technique of paddy cultivation through Direct Seeding. We are delighted to see that the technique has been accepted extremely well by the farmers.” He further added, “This year we aim to implement the methodology to over 7,000 acres of land in Punjab and 10,000 acres nationally.”
It is worth mentioning Punjab alone accounts for more than 2.5 million hectares of transplanted paddy. Traditionally, paddy is grown by planting seeds in a small nursery and then the sapling are manually transplanted after about four weeks to the main cultivation area. The saplings are then allowed to grow and the fields are kept under about 3 to 4 inches of water, mainly to reduce growing of weeds. This ‘puddle irrigation’ requires high consumption of water.
However, the ‘Direct Seeding’ methodology, that sows the seeds directly in the fields, has shown a substantial reduction in water consumption and also in the production cost. The Direct seeding also has the additional environmental benefit of reducing emission of greenhouse gases like Methane apart from improving soil porosity which can increase productivity of the succeeding crop.