Opt for direct seeding to save on labour, water, farmers told

Amritsar, May 16

The Agriculture Department has advised farmers to use the direct seeding of rice (DSR) technique for paddy to cut labour cost and conserve water. Agriculture experts said the paddy sown with the DSR required less water, especially during the initial days of growth.

Chief Agricultural Officer Jatinder Singh Gill said paddy sown with the DSR required only 50 per cent of the water than the manual transplantation. Labour shortage during paddy transplantation season was a major issue every year as the number of migrant workers for manual transplanting had decreased for the last many years.

The Chief Agricultural Officer said the farmers could save labour cost as more area could be sown with DSR technique in very less time. He said the field trials of the paddy sown with the technique had proven that it gave the same quantity of yield as compared to the paddy transplanted manually.

Gill said field employees of the department were also organizing sessions with the farmers to provide them technical knowledge regarding the DSR technique and farm practices associated with it.