Direct Seeding of Rice technique: Punjab Govt's Rs 1,500 aid welcome, but farmers need training too!

Tribune News Service

Manmeet Singh Gill

Amritsar, May 2

Even as the Punjab Government has announced an aid of Rs 1,500 per acre for farmers opting for direct seeding of rice (DSR) technique, and it is expected to decrease area under manual transplantation — a time-consuming, costly and water-guzzling technique, experts warned that farmers must acquire proper knowledge of the new sowing method before trying it at their fields.

Experts said the technique should not be applied in fields with a problem of excessive germination of weeds. They said preferred varieties for DSR technique are the ones having fast initial growth and farmers must acquire knowledge about this aspect. Farmers are also required to spray weedicides immediately after sowing to control germination of weeds.

Experts said any farmer opting for DSR technique for the first time must not do it on one-fourth of the total land on which he plans to cultivate paddy. They said farmers must get hands-on training and experience before shifting to the DSR technique.

However, as the DSR technique does not require flooding of fields during the first few weeks of sowing, it is considered to be helpful in saving water.

Comparatively, a newer technique of sowing paddy, rather than the earlier transplanting methods, the DSR technique helps not only in saving water, but also reduces input cost. In manual or machine transplantation of paddy, farmers have to spend a minimum of Rs 3,000 per acre as transplantation costs. In many areas, with less labour hands available for transplanting, labour costs are much higher. The cost incurred on preparing fields and puddling of fields is additional.

In direct seeding of rice (DSR), paddy seeds are drilled into the soil using happy seeder or super seeder machines. The technique requires knowledge of the germination process. The technique is still evolving with each passing year.

Agriculture Department officials said training camps for farmers would be organised in the coming days where farmers would be demonstrated the correct method of using DSR technique. They said the aid announced by the government would certainly help in increasing the area under this technique.

The technique

• In direct seeding of rice (DSR), paddy seeds are drilled into the soil using happy seeder or super seeder machines. The technique requires knowledge of the germination process. The technique is still evolving with each passing year
• Agriculture Department officials said training camps for farmers will be organised in the coming days, where farmers would be demonstrated the correct method of using DSR technique. They said the aid announced by the government will certainly help in increasing the area under this technique

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