Amritsar: Despite incentives, direct seeding of rice has not many takers

Amritsar, June 18

Despite the state agriculture department setting a mammoth target and continuing its scheme to provide monetary incentives to promote the direct seeding of rice (DSR), it has failed to elicit the required response from the agrarian community.

Agriculture department officials stated that DSR has been used on nearly 1,500 hectares in the district. In comparison, the department estimates that a total of 1.80 lakh hectares of land would come under paddy cultivation this season.

The government is offering a monetary incentive of Rs 1,500 per acre to the farmers who use DSR technique in their fields. These farmers are required to register on the agriculture department’s online portal. The government has been offering the scheme for the last three consecutive seasons but it has failed to convince the farmers.

Sukhjinder Singh, a local farmer, said, “Weed management is the biggest and most common problem faced in fields which are sown with DSR. Given the uncertainty of weather, even if it rains moderately in three weeks after sowing, the weed would germinate and overpower plant saplings which are then too small.” He said that though DSR is much convenient as it does not require any labour, it is a risky idea.

Another farmer Joginder Singh said, “DSR is a bit more technical method of growing rice. First of all, farmers have to sow the seed at optimum moisture level. Secondly, they have to spray weedicide soon after sowing the seeds and then they have to hope that there is no rain until the saplings are strong enough.” He said that many farmers are still learning the new technique and are not ready to take any risk.

The DSR has been touted as a less labour-intensive and water conserving technique by agriculture experts.