The direct seeding methodology for paddy cultivation has caught the fancy of many farmers across Punjab. Not only Ludhiana’s Punjab Agricultural University has recommended this methodology, but the state government, corporates, NGOs and even individual farmers are making efforts so that the technology which saves 40 to 50 per cent of water usage, gets wider acceptance among the farming community.
With combined efforts, agriculturalist believe that total area under this methodology would cross 20,000 hectares during this season.
The methodology including paddy direct seeder, apart from saving water, also reduces farmers’ cultivation cost by Rs 5000 per hectare, as no manual labour is needed to transplant paddy.
Traditionally, paddy is grown by planting seeds in a small nursery and then the saplings 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 3 to 4 inches of water, 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.
In order to popularise the methodology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana has recommended the technology. Also, visualising the popularity, Bayer Crop Science, India and Punjab State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation (Markfed) signed a formal memorandum of understanding last year to collaborate to promote and develop complete package of direct seeded rice (DSR) in Punjab to save depleted water through the present practice of transplanted rice.
The DSR project was 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 has 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.
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 over 4800 acres benefiting over 1000 farmers alone in Punjab, while last year it covered around 7000 acres in Punjab.
Paddy cultivation is known to be water intensive. Over a period of time, this has resulted in a decline of the water table in Punjab. Also, the Punjab government has directed the farmers not to grow paddy before June 10 in view of depleting water table in the state. The state had also introduced Punjab preservation of subsoil water ordinance 2008 to prevent the early plantation of paddy in the state.
The total area under paddy cultivation in Punjab would touch 27.50 lakh hectares against the 28.31 lakh hectares last season. Also, last year paddy yield was 5732 kg per hectare that was expected to go up to 5925 kg per hectare. Further, last year paddy production in Punjab was 162.55 lakh metric tonnes that is expected to touch 162.93 lakh metric tonnes this season.
