The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : New cultivation method gives better yield in delta

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 24, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

New cultivation method gives better yield in delta

Special Correspondent

NAGAPATTINAM: The Cauvery delta region of Nagapattinam district was leading among other districts in the State in adopting System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of paddy cultivation and the farmers have achieved a good yield in the ‘kuruvai’ crop this year, said Collector Tenkasi S.Jawahar here on Saturday.

He inspected sowing of paddy seeds under this method at Nangudi and Anaimangalam in Kilvelur taluk on Saturday. Mr. Jawahar said that out of the total 1.69 lakh hectares of paddy cultivation area in the district, 51,000 hectares were covered under this method. Mr. Jawahar appealed to the farmers to follow SRI method of paddy cultivation for better yield and lower cost of cultivation — 50 per cent less than the traditional method.

Besides, water for irrigation could be saved to a great extent and requirement of paddy seeds would be very low— between five to eight kg per hectare.

The Agriculture Department was promoting this method of cultivation and the Government was also giving a subsidy of Rs.2,000 a hectare for seeds, weed removing equipment etc.

Farmers in the district, particularly in the Mayiladuturai region, had cultivated ‘kuruvai’ paddy in about 25,000 hectares with the help of pumpsets, against the normal area of 35,000 hectares because of the late release of water from Mettur dam by a month against the scheduled date of June 12.

They have reaped a good ‘kuruvai’ harvest, achieving an average yield of 6.50 tonnes a hectare. Most of them raised the crop under the SRI method of cultivation. The Agriculture department was also encouraging the farmers by giving training to 50 farmers in each village on this method.

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