DSR technique yet to pick up pace in Ludhiana district

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, June 9

The direct seeding of rice (DSR) technique was yet to pick up pace with less than 5 per cent target achieved in Ludhiana district so far, the administration has confirmed.

OFFICIALSPEAK

We are running awareness camps to motivate farmers to adopt the DSR technique. The last date for registration has been extended till June 30 and all those, who will opt for DSR, will be given Rs 1,500 per acre incentive. Eleven help desks are working to achieve the target. — SURABHI MALIK, DC, Ludhiana

The acute shortage of power and water was cited as the main reasons for the poor response to the transformation from the traditional paddy sowing, for which the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had given a clarion call in order to save water and natural resources in the agrarian state, said a cross section of farmers whom The Tribune reached in different parts of the district.

Sharing the current status of the DSR in the state’s biggest and largest district, in terms of area and population, the Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO), Narinder Singh Benipal, told The Tribune, here on Thursday, that Ludhiana district has got the target of bringing 36,240 hectares of area under the paddy cultivation through DSR technique and 1,766 hectares have been achieved till date, which accounts for 4.87 per cent.

Of the total 11 blocks in the district, Jagraon was leading the maximum of 520 hectares of DSR plantation so far followed by Mangat 218 hectares, Sudhar 187 hectares, Sidhwan Bet 175 hectares, Pakhowal 150 hectares, Dehlon 107 hectares, Machhiwara 102 hectares, Ludhiana 86 hectares, Khanna 81 hectares, Samrala 72 hectares and Doraha has so brought the minimum of 68 hectares of area under paddy cultivation through DSR technique.

A progressive farmer has set an example by bringing a maximum individual area of 16.19 hectares, which accounts for almost 1 per cent of the total area achieved in the entire district so far, under the paddy cultivation through the DSR technique. Sulakhan Singh, a farmer in Samrala, rued that though the government was making tall claims, the supply of power and canal water to enable paddy cultivation was in dire straits.

“The CM is making statements to adopt DSR but he should visit the fields to see what we are passing through without adequate supply of water and electricity to sow our fields,” complained another peasant Ajmer Singh in Doraha.

Didar Singh of Sudhar said he and many of his fellow farmers were ready to adopt DSR but they were unable to do so in the absence of proper supply of power and water.

Ludhiana has the state’s maximum area of 2,58,677 hectares under paddy cultivation every season. Of the target of 32,900 hectares through DSR technique last season, only 3,640 hectares were achieved, which accounted for 11.06 per cent.

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