BHAWANIPATNA, 3 JAN: At a time, when unfavourable weather and erratic monsoon have badly affected the paddy crops all over the state, the farmers who had adopted the SRI (System of Rice Intensification) method on their lands even in non-irrigation areas are smiling as their hopes of better yield this time are high.
Highly enthused, the agriculture department has come up with plans to cover about 6,000 acres of agricultural land in the irrigated pockets under the SRI method in the coming Rabi season against the 3,000 acres covered last season.
During last Kharif season, about 4,000 acres, both in irrigated and non-irrigated pockets in Kalahandi district, were covered under Sri method of cultivation, official sources said.
The national consultant of National food security Mission (NFSM) Mr Ravinder Singh Saini, during his one-day visit to the district, observed and appreciated the success rate of the SRI method of paddy cultivation in Kalahandi.
He said that the farmers needed to be made aware about the Sri method, so that more and more areas can be covered under the system. He opined that although Sri is suitable in the irrigated pockets during Rabi, the weather condition and erratic monsoon can not affect the success of Sri in the non-irrigated pockets of Kalahandi as well during Kharif in the current year.
Orissa is the leading state in adoption of Sri method of cultivation. However, the exact area of coverage in the state needs to be assessed and documented, he noted.
The Sri method was safe and raised the chances of better yield, opined state consultant, NFSM Mr Bijaya Kumar Harichandan and deputy director agriculture Mr Prabasi Sethi, who accompanied Mr Saini.
The team visited agriculture fields to ascertain status of Sri method of paddy cultivation and its adoptability by farmers. They also reviewed various activities of NFSM in progress in Kalahandi.
The team also visited Santpur village, where they participated in crop cutting of paddy cultivated by the Sri method by farmer Mr Dillip Sa. The yield was recorded at 74 quintal per hectare, the team was told.
“I had raised paddy in Sri method in six acres for the first time and the yield is about four times more than what I got by traditional method from the adjacent fields,” Mr Sa maintained.
The team also interacted with the farmers and panchayati raj institution (PRI) members.