50,540 farmers take to DSR cultivation on 3.44 lakh acre
Parveen Arora
Karnal, July 18
Haryana has surpassed its target for direct seeded rice (DSR) cultivation in the current season, with 50,540 farmers registering 3,44,522.73 acre of land. The Agriculture Department has set a target of 3,02,000 acre, higher than the last year’s target of 2,25,000 acre.
“The DSR method, aimed at conserving groundwater, has been implemented across 12 major paddy-growing districts in the state. To encourage this practice, the government offers an incentive of Rs 4,000 an acre. The Agriculture Department has initiated a verification process to check whether paddy has been cultivated under the DSR method or the traditional transplanting method.
“After the last year’s success, the department has increased the target of the DSR this season. We have achieved the target, and now our team members are visiting the fields to check the farmers’ claims,” said Dr Wazir Singh, Deputy Director Agriculture (DDA), Karnal.
He said the DSR method did not require flooded fields for paddy sowing, instead, rice crops are sown like other cereals in a ‘vattar’ field, prepared after pre-sown irrigation. He emphasised DSR saves nearly 30 per cent of groundwater irrigation compared to traditional transplanting methods. Dr Singh said this technique not only conserves groundwater, but is also more profitable than traditional methods.
As per the official data, 2,652 farmers registered 13,474.10 acre against a target of 12,000 acre in Ambala, in Fatehabad, 6,592 farmers registered 47,529.23 acre against a target of 25,000 acre.
As many as 2,369 farmers of Hisar registered the cultivation of DSR on 13,246 acre against the target of 25,000 acre, while 2,945 farmers of Jind districts registered the cultivation on 19,084 acre against the target of 20,000 acre.
Kaithal district has a target of 18,000 acre, of which 2,115 farmers registered 13,123.97 acre; in Karnal, 4,253 farmers registered 29,935 acre against the target of 30,000 acre.
Sirsa leads the way
As many as 17,358 farmers in Sirsa have got 1,34,900.71 acre registered against the target of 85,000 acre.
