Project to save water in rice cultivation

Blurb: PAU, NABARD to train farmers in ”tar-wattar DSR” technology

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Quote: High yield

“A shift from puddle transplanting to DSR saves 15-20 per cent of irrigation water, offers 10-15 per cent of higher ground water recharge, saves labour and provides 250 kg per hectare higher grain yield.” – MS Bhullar, head, Department of Agronomy, PAU

Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, August 3

Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) have initiated a collaborative project to promote ”tar-wattar Direct Seeded Rice (DSR)” technology in the state.

The two-year NABARD-sponsored project focuses on capacity building of farmers on ”tar-wattar DSR” technique through trainings and demonstrations in fields across 12 districts. The aim of the project is to upscale the shift towards water-saving techniques for conserving natural resources.

MS Bhullar, head, Department of Agronomy, PAU, Ludhiana, said under the project, six training webinars on ”tar-wattar DSR” were conducted, in which more than 300 farmers participated.

Farmers demonstrated the technique on more than 200 acres in six districts — Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Pathankot, Ferozpur and Faridkot — in the current season, he said.

Bhullar said the ”tar-wattar DSR” was a novel technique developed and recommended by PAU in 2020 to reduce water footprints in rice cultivation. In this technique, pre-sowing irrigation was applied and primed seed was sown in a ”tar-wattar” (full of moisture) field.

A shift from puddle transplanting to DSR saves 15-20 per cent of irrigation water, offers 10-15 per cent of higher ground water recharge, saves labour and provides 250 kg per hectare higher grain yield, he said.