Farmers begin direct sowing of rice

Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, June 1

The direct seeding (sowing) of rice has begun in Punjab from today as per the guidelines of the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana, and the state Agriculture Department. However, the transplantation of rice (paddy) seedlings will begin from June 10.

Kahan Singh Pannu, Secretary, Agriculture, and Dr Sutantar Kumar Airi, Director, Agriculture Department, have advised farmers to go for direct seeding keeping in view the shortage of labourers due to their exodus amid the pandemic.

Moreover, they claimed that the direct seeding would reduce the burden on power consumption to pump out more underground water to flood the fields for transplantation of seedlings. The DSR (direct seeded rice) technology consumes less water as compared to the transplantation technique of rice cultivation going on for decades.

Experts of the PAU and state Agriculture Department said the DSR technology gives the best yield and quality when sowing is done in the month of June. Early sowing results in higher use of irrigation water and higher incidence of weeds. Moreover, the pollination may coincide with high temperature leading to partially filled grains.

Jaswinder Singh Brar, a senior agro-scientist of the department, said, due to the labour shortage, the farmers had shown keen interest in the DSR technology and many of them would be adopting it for the first time. He said, “The DSR mature 7-10 days earlier than the transplanted rice; therefore, June 1 to June 15 is the ideal time for direct seeding.”

In this method, the field is first laser-levelled and irrigated (rauni). It is prepared in “tar-wattar” condition with two cultivations, followed by a couple of heavy plankings and seeded immediately. In “tar-wattar” conditions of soil, the DSR provide best results when sown with ‘lucky seed drill’, which does sowing and herbicide spray simultaneously, and, if ordinary rice drill is used, spray immediately after sowing, experts said.