After getting good outcomes from Direct Seeding of paddy (DSR) final 12 months, farmers of Punjab are adopting this system this 12 months as properly and might cowl giant areas holding in thoughts the preliminary tendencies. The state agriculture division plans to result in 1 million hectares underneath DSR this 12 months – a giant goal to realize and double the realm lined underneath DSR final 12 months.
However, Chief Agriculture Officers of varied districts of the state say that this 12 months the usage of DSR is lowering barely as in comparison with final 12 months because of availability of migrant laborers for paddy transplantation. However, this 12 months until June 14, an space of 2.23 lakh hectares (about 5.51 lakh acres) within the state has already been lined underneath DSR. Last 12 months additionally, by this time, virtually the identical space was introduced underneath DSR, which ultimately lined greater than 5 lakh hectares.
Sowing of paddy (non-basmati) will proceed until the primary week of July as many smaller varieties with excessive yield potential at the moment are obtainable to the farmers. After this the sowing of Basmati will begin which is able to proceed until the top of July. Many farmers additionally undertake DSR method for sowing Basmati.
The space underneath DSR is being recorded by way of satellite tv for pc by Punjab Agriculture Department with the assistance of Punjab Remote Sensing Center (PRSC), Ludhiana.
The state achieved the best productiveness of paddy in its historical past final 12 months with 6631 kg per hectare. “After getting huge area under DSR last year, if the paddy productivity of the state has increased, it means that DSR, if adopted properly under the guidance of agriculture experts, will not only help the farmers through traditional method yields equal to or even higher than Paddy transplantation, but also saves a huge amount of groundwater,” mentioned an agriculture skilled.
Last 12 months, rice was cultivated in 31.49 lakh hectares, which included 4.06 lakh hectares of basmati and 27.43 lakh hectares of paddy (non-basmati), of which over 5 lakh (16 per cent) hectares was underneath DSR.
Last 12 months additionally, the DSR space recorded by the PRSC was over 5 lakh hectares, which was not solely an all-time excessive within the state but in addition way more than the full space underneath DSR within the decade. From 2010 to 2019, solely an space of 3,87,000 hectares (95,580 acres) may very well be introduced underneath DSR.
Experts from the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) mentioned that there have been round 6,000 machines obtainable in Punjab and 100 machines every in Happy Seeder Machines, that are primarily used for sowing wheat, and PAU has launched Lucky Seeder Machines. developed, that are primarily used for sowing wheat. Used even after modification.
DSR is really useful for medium to heavy textured soils resembling sandy loam, clay loam, silt loam and loamy soils and Punjab accounts for 87 per cent of this kind of soil.
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana had really useful the DSR method from June 1 within the state in ‘tar water’ situations – that’s, in areas with excessive humidity with none further value, leading to saving of groundwater and therefore low energy consumption.
Punjab Agriculture Commissioner Dr Balwinder Singh Sidhu lately mentioned that this time, greater than 1,000 camps have been organized in clusters of 5 villages within the state’s paddy transplanting districts to coach and educate farmers in DSR methods.
DSR was really useful within the state in 2010, however within the first 4 years only some progressive farmers had adopted this system. Then some extra farmers got here ahead and confirmed curiosity, however once more they misplaced curiosity because of lack of correct data and weed downside. But now numerous camps are being organized at village degree to make farmers aware of how, when and wherein soil it needs to be adopted and availability of efficient weedicide available in the market.
In regular transplanting, farmers put together a nursery, which is then uprooted and planted 25-35 days later by 3-4 employees in the primary “puddle” discipline. In the primary 3-4 weeks after transplanting, the crops must be irrigated virtually day by day (if there isn’t a rain) to make sure a water depth of 4–5 cm. Even for the following 4-5 weeks, when the crop is in tillering stage, farmers carry on irrigating each 2-3 days. Water inhibits the expansion of weeds by depriving them of oxygen within the submerged state. Water, in different phrases, acts as an herbicide for paddy.
In DSR paddy seeds are drilled straight within the discipline by tractor operated DSR machine. Here the water has been changed by the unique chemical herbicide and it doesn’t require flood irrigation and the primary irrigation is completed 21 days after sowing.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
