Berhampur (Orissa) (PTI): Experiment on System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a new method of paddy cultivation in Orissa, has yielded an encouraging result.

While a farmer from Balipada village in Ganjam district near here got 60 quintals per hectare of paddy, another farmer in Randha is expected to harvest same quantity of paddy. The productivity is almost double the yield in traditional cultivation method, calimed the farmers.

"I have got an yield about 60 quintal per hectare after adopting the SEI method" said Sudhir Rout, a farmer from Balipada. In the conventional method he was getting only 35 to 45 quintals from the same field.

The crop cutting was done in his field in the presence of agriculture statistical officers to record the productivity recently, official sources said.

State Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy and the agriculture director who visited Randha village near here on Wednesday to inspect the crop were overwhelmed.

"The advantage of the system of cultuvation is that it consumes less fertilizer, pesticides, seeds and irrigation and yield more crops", said Director of Agriculture Arabinda Padhi.