The Hindu Business Line : Paddy farmers reap success with new cultivation system

Smart ways
Weeds made into an added source of nutrient instead being discarded.
Farmers spend Rs 1,600 less a hectare compared to the conventional Rs 5,000.

R. Balaji

Chennai, Dec.16 The disbelief in the farmer’s voice comes clearly over the phone — “the output has to be seen to be believed, it is a record,” says Mr M. Ganesan of Balasundaram Village, Palani Taluk, Dindigul District.

Last month, he had harvested 14.27 tonnes of paddy from one hectare — that is double what he has been used to and at lower cost. Mr Ganesan is now among the growing numbers of farmers taking to SRI, a new routine of paddy cultivation, and a firm believer.

Substantial growth

Tamil Nadu is seeing a substantial growth in paddy area under SRI (System of Rice Intensification), which has helped to nearly double paddy output from a unit of land. All it takes are small but important modifications in planting and carefully controlled application of nutrients, water and pesticides.

Earlier this year, Mr Ganesan had prepared his field to start a maize crop. But officials from the State Agriculture Department had convinced him to try out this new technique. He had initially been sceptical — how can yield increase when you use less than a third of the seed normally used, less water, less chemicals… to him the convincing factor was less labour, the officials had said SRI would help him use a new tool for weeding.

Key features

Today, the farmer is an obviously happy man.

Explaining the main features of rice intensification, officials said it involves wider spacing of the seedlings which are planted in 24 cm X 24 cm grids against denser spacing of 15 cm X 15 cm in the traditional system.

Farmers use 8 kg of seeds a hectare instead of the usual 30 kg; only a single seedling is planted per ‘hill’ in raised rows instead of the usual practice of a bunch of three-four seedlings; the wider spacing allows farmers use a hand tool, cono weeder for weeding.

Reduced water usage

It buries the weeds fully into the soil, making them an added source of nutrient instead of the conventional system in which the weeds are pulled out by hand and discarded.

Fertiliser application follows a strict schedule based on indicator charts of leaf colour. Water use is also reduced — the soil is kept moist in the SRI rather than submerged under inches of water as is done in the traditional system. Farmers spend Rs 1,600 less a hectare compared to the conventional Rs 5,000. Effectively, the crop gets adequate sunlight, nutrients and water because of wider spacing and optimal inputs. So each paddy plant puts out more grains.

Stick to schedule

The crucial point Mr Ganesan cautioned is to stick to schedule and training the farm workers to the new routine. The experts had closely supervised the operations for him because success in his field would mean more people would take to the new system.

Mr C. Vaiyapuri, a farmer in Thiaganur Village, Attur Taluk near Salem, says he is adopting the SRI cultivation during the current season. The wider spacing gives farmers the added benefit of lower labour costs, healthier paddy plants with strong rooting which means lesser incidence of disease and lower use of pesticides and more grain output. The State Government has to pay more attention to disseminating the technique widely since sticking to schedule is important for good output.

The area under SRI is about 3.24 lakh ha and growing against 2.75 lakh hectares last year. During the course of a year, farmers in Tamil Nadu cultivate a total of over 21.5 lakh hectares of paddy distributed across three cropping seasons.