New paddy cultivation method gives better yield

Experimental paddy cultivation using System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method has yielded encouraging result in the state’s Ganjam district. 

While a farmer from Balipada village in the district achieved a yield of 60 quintals per hectare, another farmer in Randha village is expected to harvest the same quantity of paddy. According to the framers, the productivity under SRI is almost double, compared to the traditional methods of cultivation.

"I have a crop yield of about 60 quintals per hectare after adopting the SRI method", said Sudhir Rout, a farmer from Balipada. In the conventional method, he could achieve a yield of only 35-45 quintals from the same field. The crop cutting in his field was done recently in the presence of the agriculture officers and statistical officers to record the productivity. 

State chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy and agriculture director, Arabinda Padhee, who visited Randha village, near here, to inspect the crop productivity were impressed with the yield. "The advantage of the new system is that it requires less fertiliser pesticides, seeds and irrigation and yields more crop", said Padhee. 

As the SRI system has shown good results on an experimental basis, the government has decided to encourage the farmers to adopt the new method in more areas to yield higher quantities of crops. "During the Rabi season, we have decided to create at least one SRI village in each of the districts and more areas will be covered in the ensuing Kharif season", he added. 

He pointed out that the agriculture department has experimented with the SRI system in about 5,000 acres of land in different places of the state under various ongoing agricultural programmes, including National Food Security Mission and Rashtriya Krushi Vikash Yojana.

“In order to encourage the farmers to adopt the new method for greater yield, the state government would send the farmers to other states on an exposure visit. The SRI method of cultivation is a proven technology across the world and in India, it was earlier experimented in states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh", informed Padhee.