Direct seeding of rice faces rodent threat in Moga, Ferozepur

Tribune News Service

Kulwinder Sandhu

Moga, May 18

Though the state government has decided to bring an area of 1.2 million hectares under the Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) in Kharif season to save electricity and conserve groundwater, farmers living along the Sutlej river in Moga and Ferozepur districts are little hesitant due to the apparent threat of rodents to paddy crop in dry weather conditions.

In the past hundreds of farmers had ploughed their fields within a couple of weeks after DSR sowing due to damage caused to paddy plants by rodents. Thus, farmers again switched back to the traditional method of transplant paddy.

Request to agri department

We have written to the Agriculture Department to provide poisonous baits at the district level so that these can be distributed among farmers free of cost to tackle the problem. — Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, Plant protection officer, Moga

The DSR technique was first advocated by Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, in 2010, but it picked up only in 2020 and 2021 after farmers faced labour crunch due to the pandemic.

The problem of rodents posing threat to DSR fields has been widely discussed by agro-scientists, but no concrete solution has been found so far.

Joginder Singh Ugrahan, chief, BKU (Ugrahan), said, “We support sustainable agriculture practices, but farmers have to undergo many risks. Therefore, the government must give an incentive of Rs 10,000 per acre to adopt the DSR technique.”

Farmers said rats were creating problems in the DSR fields due to persistent dry weather conditions. The irrigation and puddling of fields (traditional method) destroys rodent burrows (holes), said the farmers.

The lesser bandicoot rat and bandicota bengalensis are the predominant rodent pest species which cause damage to crops. Other rodent species found include soft furred field rat, millardia meltada, Indian gerbil, tatera indica, Indian bush rat, golunda ellioti and field mouse.

Jaswinder Singh Aulakh, a farmer from Tahkhtuwala village, said, “Controlling rodents become ineffective as they migrate from surrounding fields. Therefore, the Agriculture Department must form clusters of villages in vulnerable regions to launch collective anti-rat campaigns so as to cover maximum possible areas (both cultivated and uncultivated) for better results.”

Gurmej Singh of Chak Bhange Wala village in Ferozepur said, “The government must launch a drive to kill rats before farmers start the DSR technique.”

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