An Amloh farmer has adopted direct seeding of rice on his 42 acres, a technique that saves water and promoted by the state government to arrest the fall of water table.
Under it, paddy seeds are drilled directly into the field rather than growing seedlings in a nursery and transplanting them.The adoption of the technique stays low amid government efforts to popularise it.
According to estimates, traditional paddy cultivation requires roughly 3,000 to 5,000 litres per kg, while the direct-seeded rice (DSR) cut the consumption from 15% to 40 %.
Chief Agriculture Officer Jagdev Singh said farmer Gurjinder Singh of Khanian village had been using the technique for the past two years and achieved encouraging results. He said the technique not only helped save substantial quantities of water but also reduced cultivation costs. “Direct seeding of paddy is proving to be an effective alternative to the conventional transplantation method. Farmers who adopted the technique in previous years have reported satisfactory yields, which is encouraging more growers to switch to the DSR,” he said.
The paddy variety PR-126, he said, was particularly suitable for the DSR cultivation.
Highlighting the growing importance of water-saving technologies in agriculture, Singh urged farmers to contact their nearest Agriculture Development Offices for technical guidance.
