10 Haryana districts behind target of taking to DSR technique

Hisar, June 28

Except two districts, the Agriculture Department is having a tough task diverting paddy growing farmers from the traditional method of transplanting rice seedlings in the puddled soil to direct seeding of rice (DSR).

Sirsa overachieves target of 8K acres

• The data showed that the farmers in Sirsa had taken the lead in the shift from traditional methods to DSR as farmers in 13,423 acres had adopted the DSR technique. The district has overachieved the target of 8,000 acres
• Similarly, the farmers in Jind have also crossed the 11,000-acre target set by the Agriculture Department. The farmers achieved 120% of the target as 13,169 acres has been sown by the DSR technique

The Agriculture Department has set a target of direct seeding of rice in one lakh acres of the total paddy area in the state. However, the department’s data revealed that so far Sirsa and Jind districts had achieved and crossed this target of sowing paddy through DSR out of 12 paddy districts in the state.

The Haryana Government has given an incentive of Rs 4,000 per acres to the farmers for switching over to DSR technique of rice sowing from the traditional method. The government has aimed at conserving water as the paddy is known as the water guzzling crop. Officials said the incident was aimed at giving boost to conserve water in the state by launching an effective technique for paddy growers. The officials will also verify the data by visiting the fields later.

The data showed that the farmers in Sirsa district had taken the lead in the shift from traditional methods to DSR as farmers in 13,423 acres had adopted the DSR technique. The district has overachieved the target of 8,000 acres. Similarly, the farmers in Jind district have also crossed the 11,000-acre target set by the Agriculture Department. The farmers achieved 120% of the target as 13,169 acres had been sown by the DSR technique.

Other districts including Rohtak (15%), Hisar (22%), Kurukshetra (34%), Ambala (38%), Yamunanagar (49%), Kaithal (60%), Panipat (74%), Karnal (74%), Fatehabad (76%), and Sonepat (87%) are lagging behind in switching over to the DSR technique.

The agriculture officials set the target of 6,000 acres each in Yamunanagar, Panipat and Sonepat; 7,000 acres in Ambala, 8,000 acres each in Sirsa, Hisar, Rohtak; 9,000 acres in Fatehabad; 10,000 acres each in Karnal and Kurukshetra; and 11, 000 acres each in Kaithal and Jind.

The farmers need to register themselves on the ‘Meri Fasal Mera Byora’ (MFMB) portal by June 30. Haryana has about 1,52,700 hactares of paddy area in 2020.