DSR method of paddy growing: Benefits and controversies surrounding it

Direct seeding of rice is a cultivation method where paddy seeds are planted directly into the soil, eliminating the need for nursery growth and transplanting, which require fully watered conditions

Direct Seeding of Rice, or the DSR method of rice cultivation, has been in vogue for many decades now. But, in recent years, it has come to acquire added importance given the falling water tables in major paddy-growing northern states of Punjab and Haryana and uncertainties surrounding the southwest monsoon.

The narrowing gap between paddy harvest and wheat sowing, which is blamed for being one of the prime reasons for stubble burning in North India, is also why the DSR method of rice cultivation has caught the imagination of policymakers and academicians alike. As some studies show, rice grown through this method takes less time to mature.

Recently, the Haryana government announced an incentive of Rs 4,000 per acre for farmers who have shifted to the DSR method, which broadly translates into a per-farmer incentive of around Rs 22,200, considering the average landholding in the state is 2.22 hectares.

 

Similarly, in neighbouring Punjab, too, the state government has announced an incentive of Rs 1,500 per acre for shifting to DSR, which translates into per-farmer earning of around Rs 13,575, considering an average landholding of 3.62 hectares.

About the DSR method

DSR, as the name suggests, is a method of paddy cultivation in which the seedlings, or seeds, are directly planted into the soil either manually or through machines, thus doing away with the requirement of first growing the plant in nurseries and then transplanting them into the fields (transplanted puddled rice), both of which have to be done in fully watered conditions.

As per some reports, DSR has several benefits and the prime among them is that it leads to anywhere between 15 per cent and 30 per cent saving of water, which, in turn, helps to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions.

Reports show that the traditional puddling method requires anywhere between 3,600 litres and 4,125 litres of water to grow 1 kilogram of rice. 

With water tables fast dropping, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, methods such as DSR have been propagated as being the ideal solution.

Being environment-friendly, farmers practising the DSR method can also earn extra by selling carbon credits.

A large-scale study conducted by the Nudge Institute sometime back on the benefits and pitfalls of the DSR technique as against the conventional puddling method found that over 47 per cent of small and marginal farmers got higher yields by using the DSR method compared to the average yield from the puddling method.
 

The Nudge Institute is a not-for-profit body that works towards empowering communities for sustainable economic growth and development.

Woefully low adoption

However, despite all the benefits, DSR’s adoption has been woefully low among farmers. In fact, in Punjab, reports show that out of the total, around 3.0-3.1 million hectares of paddy is cultivated in the state. But the maximum area covered under DSR in any given year has not crossed 500,000-700,000 hectares.

Similarly, in Haryana, out of the total 1.4-1.5 million hectares of land in which paddy is grown, the DSR method occupies hardly a few lakh hectares.

What makes farmers wary of DSR?

The Nudge Institute Study shows weed management has been the biggest challenge for the farmers in the adoption of the DSR method. Almost 89 per cent of the farmers who had adopted DSR method and faced any yield loss had weeds in their farms.

Grown on dry land without the necessary safeguard of water, farmers complain that paddy plants cultivated through the DSR method are more susceptible to weeds, which leads to a loss of yield for them.

DSR method and HT rice

To counter this, scientists across the globe are working and have developed rice varieties and seeds that are tolerant to herbicide (HT).

The most common among them are varieties that are resistant to the widely used broad-spectrum herbicide called “Imazethapyr”. 
 

The chemical is difficult to use on normal paddy as it does not distinguish between paddy plants and weeds and can damage the mother plant as well.

A white paper by the Federation of Seed Industries of India (FSII) in association with Sathguru Consultants, released a few months ago, showed that even high-yielding rice varieties that are bred for the puddled system when grown under the DSR method, even with all the supportive practices in place, do show a 10-30 per cent reduction in yield.

This further underscores the need for new varieties of paddy that are tailor-made for DSR. Companies usually sell DSR rice seeds and plant chemicals to manage weeds in combination.

The state-run Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) has launched HT basmati rice varieties that claim that they can control weeds in rice crops grown through the DSR method.

More recently, seeds major Mahyco Private Ltd formed a 50:50 joint venture with US-based seeds company Ricetec called “Paryan” to introduce non-genetically modified organism (GMO) HT rice and wheat varieties for Indian farmers.

The promoters claimed that with these varieties farmers can freely use Imazethapyr without the fear of plants turning yellow. This makes these varieties ideal for direct seeding without the fear of weeds.

Explaining the benefits of the technology, Shirish Barwale, managing director, Mahyco Pvt Ltd, said that field studies show that the cost of 7kg of the hybrid rice seeds through this technology plus herbicide Imazethapyr will cost average farmers around Rs 5,150 per acre, while 6kg of any other rice seed along with a complex mix of herbicides will cost anywhere around Rs 4,000 per acre.

“But, this lower cost in using the old conventional seeds does not include tractor rentals, cost of puddling and labour for transplanting of rice, which varies between Rs 6,500 and Rs 7,000 per acre, depending upon the area in which the rice is being grown,” Barwale said.

Also, savings will happen due to less irrigation in DSR rice, Barwale claimed. So, while transplanted rice through the conventional puddling method needs around 15 irrigations, DSR rice would need around 10 irrigations.

Other major seed companies are also launching HT rice varieties that are suitable for DSR methods of cultivation to conserve nature and reduce water usage in paddy cultivation.

Criticism of DSR

Critics, however, think that all this is a ploy of big companies to promote harmful plant chemicals under the garb of saving the environment. They also argue that weeds can be easily managed by adopting environment-friendly methods such as advancing the date of paddy planting.

Another argument is that unleashing HT rice under the garb of DSR will lead to mono-cropping and seed insecurity. They also argue that paddy was being grown through direct seeding in many parts of India once upon a time before farmers were shifted to transplanting.

Recently, a group of scientists and civil society activists wrote a letter to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav, alleging that the environmental, health and economic issues related to HT crops have been well-debated already. They said most countries do not allow HT crops for cultivation, irrespective of whether they have been bred using genetic engineering.

The letter said that farm-level sovereignty gets eroded when combo products of seeds and chemicals are controlled by external entities.  It also argued that while DSR has several advantages, experience in Punjab and Haryana is showing several practical challenges with DSR. “It is not a universal solution for all types of soils…,” it said.

The letter also said Imazethapyr is in the list of “bannable” pesticides for which a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court. The PIL has a listing of 110 pesticides that have been banned elsewhere but continue to be used in India. Imazethapyr has not been approved in 27 EU countries and the UK, and banned in Turkey, the letter said.

“It is clear to us that while Imazethapyr and paddy varieties tolerant to it are being promoted with a façade that they are non-GM, that they would save water, save farmers’ cost of cultivation, and bring down stubble burning, etc., the reality is that HT crops are being introduced by the Government of India surreptitiously even as it talks about natural farming,” the letter said.