Tamil Nadu   

SRI technique to be adopted in 5,000 hectares of paddy

ERODE: Agriculture in Erode district, hit by various factors from pollution to dwindling labour, appears to have received a booster shot, if the plan conceived by the Collector, T. Udhayachandran, is anything to go by.

He has asked the Agriculture Department to bring 5,000 hectares under the system of rice intensification (SRI) technique of cultivation for paddy to boost production by reducing input cost.

SRI, in short, is sowing a seed in a groove to have only one shoot and to transplant such single shoots on fields by maintaining a width of at least 20 cm between two adjacent shoots.

This allows robust growth of plants using minimum water, resulting in increased production.

In the ensuing samba season, which will be the first for many farmers under SRI, the yield is expected to go up by 30 per cent.

“Against the yield of about 30 quintals an acre, we expect a minimum of 45 quintals in the new system,” says S. Somasundaram, joint director (in charge), Agriculture Department, Erode.

While increased yield will be the ultimate goal, the path that leads to it under SRI also has equally good benefits.

For example, the quantity of paddy seeds sown is less.

“While the normal quantity used for sowing is 30 kg, in SRI the farmers are expected to use not more than three kg,” the joint director (in charge) says.

Water too is to be used in lesser quantity. “There will not be stagnation of water for long, as is the current practice.

Only paper-thin quantity of water is to be maintained on the field, that too only for the first few weeks,” he adds.

Farmers who are already into SRI say the benefits are only waiting to be reaped.

Leading farmer R. Selvam of Arachalur says, “Adoption of SRI will easily get a farmer eight tonnes a hectare, which is much above the State average of three tonnes a hectare. This will also put production on a par with China’s.” Back in the Department, Mr. Somasundaram says in the seven agriculture divisions of the district, the Department proposes to launch an awareness campaign, hold village-to-village meetings and also take farmers to SRI-practiced fields.

The target is to encourage farmers to go in for SRI in the ensuing samba cultivation season. It also has plans to arrange subsidy for farmers to buy markers and cono-weeders to help in SRI adoption.

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