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Small & Marginal farmers of Punjab can increase rice production by adopting System of rice intensification : Dr Sabharwal -Manan Saini
-Babushahi.com


Gurdaspur: With the changing climatic conditions, water from rainfall is becoming more unreliable. It is in such a situation that the agricultural sector will have to feed more people and have very little water to spare as there is also pressure from increasing water demand from other sectors. In order to then get more crop per drop of water, There is need to adopt such techniques by which farmers can increase their rice production by using less underground water for irrigation and other resources said Dr Ravi Kumar Sabharwal, Chief Agriculture officer, Gurdaspur while taking to the correspondent and inspecting the field trials of Rice cultivation to evaluate the different method of Rice cultivation in the context of climate changevillage Thanewal of BlockGurdaspur.

He said that direct seeding rice and System of Rice Intensification (SRI) are two methods of rice cultivation by which we can save natural resource. Studies by different farm scientist show that SRI uses up to 30-40% less water per ha of rice farm.

Dr. Sabharwal said that SRI has been validated in Gurdaspur by Deptt. of Agriculture, Gurdaspur during last 9 year which shows that 20-25 % yield of paddy per hac can be increased while using75% less seed,30-40% underground water for irrigation, No use of weedicide, minimum use of pesticide and fungicide. He said that about 1900-5000 litre of water is being used to produce 1 kg of rice. Thus the water use is immense in rice production. He said that SRI then, is an agro-ecological method for increasing the productivity of rice by changing the way that the plants, soil and water are managed. He said that SRI technique was developed in collaboration with the farmers in Madagascar in the 1980s by Henry de lonely. He said that purpose of SRI is to enable Small and marginal farmers with limited resources to increase their production and income without relying on external sources. So if we look at the question of water today, it becomes extremely important to then look at the benefits that SRI gives us, Dr Sabharwal said. This year's troubled monsoon (while the rainfall deficit is as high as 64% in Punjab-Haryana, in fact these deficits were even higher on July 15, 2014) has been a cause for concern for farmers. He said that in the climate change context, the SRI plants have shown greater adaptability to both droughts and floods. So why is it that this potential is not being harnessed?

Dr Amrik Singh Agriculture Development officer said that declining supply of underground water will be a major problem in the years ahead, due to increasing demands for non-agricultural purposes and uncertainty and reduction of water supply. Punjab has already exhausted its upper layer of groundwater, and farmers are now using high-powered pumps to reach supplies lower in the soil horizon, He said. Dr Amrik Singh said that in the traditional cultivation of rice, seedlings are transplanted at an age of 25-30 days, and fields are kept continuously flooded/inundated, thinking (incorrectly) that this will increase productivity. Chemical fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides as well as herbicides are applied at high levels, contributing to air, water and soil pollution with the result of soil degradation and declines in air and water quality, On the other hand, SRI does not require continuous flooding of fields, but requires water only when the crop needs it, i.e., when the field is relatively dry and ready for the next irrigation. He said that Based on the performance of yield under SRI, it appears that there is great potential for increasing the yield of rice in the country. Because there are no requirements to purchase new seeds or agro-inputs, it has better prospects for adoption by resource-poor farmers and more particularly by the small and marginal farmers of the country who have limited scope of land expansion can increase their yield per unit and per day of labor by adopting SRI. This technology will be very helpful for increasing social and economic status of large numbers of the farming community he said.