Karnataka - Mangalore   

Farmers to be trained in SRI to boost yield

By M. Raghuram

MANGALORE, SEPT. 30. The Dakshina Kannada farmers, particularly those cultivating paddy, will be trained in the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which can give higher rice yields with lower costs and less water.

The system is also known as "Madagascar type of paddy cultivation."

The Agriculture Department here is preparing material and training procedures for this system from this rabi season, which will start next week, soon after the first round of harvesting of the kharif crop, which is standing in 40 per cent of the fields in Dakshina Kannada. Very soon, the Raitha Samparka Kendras across the district will get the material to guide farmers about the sowing pattern under the SRI method.

Advantages

The technical assistant in the department, Palichandra, told The Hindu that the SRI method had been tried and tested by Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University in Hyderabad, and its Director of Extension, Alapathi Satyanarayana, had produced a scientific paper on the SRI method, which spoke of at least 11 advantages over the conventional method of sowing.

The SRI gave higher grain and straw yields, reduced duration of the crop by 10 days, lessened seed rate (2 kg per acre), needed less water and chemicals, had less chaff and higher grain weight, higher head rice recovery, could withstand cyclonic gales, had tolerance to low temperature and improved soil health through biological activity.

Mr. Palichandra said that these advantages were not found in the conventional methods and the SRI method was open to drip and sprinkler irrigation. It sounded strange for the rain-fed area such as Dakshina Kannada, but the SRI method could take these two types of irrigation in case there was a water shortage, he said.

Yield

Giving an overview of the experiments conducted by farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Palichandra said that 167 demonstrations had been conducted where it was found that the average yield with the SRI method was 8,250 kg a hectare, while in the conventional method it was 5,307 kg a hectare. The average productivity in Andhra Pradesh had been 3,870 kg a hectare.

During the rabi season, 94 farmers had experimented with SRI method and achieved 9,910 kg a hectare against 7,720 kg a hectare under the conventional method.

If adopted on an experimental basis in Dakshina Kannada, the SRI method would pay rich dividends to the farmers. The target achievement under the high-yield varieties (HYV) had stagnated at 87 per cent (target 30,000 hectares) and this could go up significantly, he said.

Cultivation

Dakshina Kannada had about 4,151 hectares under the improved variety and the SRI could be adopted in this segment also. The first of the demonstration farms would be ready for harvest by the end of the rabi season in February-end and the department was hopeful that the results would be encouraging.

Giving details about the harvest of the kharif crop, he said 40 per cent (of the 35,000 hectares) had reached harvest stage while 60 per cent was under grain formation stage.

The department was also thinking of adopting villages for intensive development of organic farming in partnership with non-governmental organisations.

Rainfall

The rainfall figures available with the department also spoke of ideal conditions for a good rabi crop. There was a slight deficiency from the normal pattern. The district had received cumulative rainfall of 3,113.48 mm till September 29, 2004 as against 3,038.12 mm in the corresponding period last year. Among the taluks, Belthangady got the maximum rainfall of 3,226.3 mm while Mangalore taluk received 2,851.7 mm.

Mangalore taluk, however, has topped in achieving the target under paddy with 12,138 hectares, which is 93 per cent achievement of the target of 12,700 hectares. The district, which has been declared a horticultural district, grows 1,27,531 tonnes of paddy in the three seasons (kharif, rabi and summer).

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