Most Jalandhar farmers shun DSR method

Jalandhar, June 14

This year, the Agriculture Department had set a target of 22,800 acres for the paddy to be sown with DSR technique in Jalandhar, but farmers have outrightly rejected the technique as merely 432 acres have been covered under the technique.

Last year, the area under the technique was 1,274 acres in Jalandhar. Incentives by the government have failed to attract the farmers. The technique was pushed by the government to arrest groundwater depletion and Rs 1,500 per acre incentive was also announced by CM Bhagwant Mann.

An official from the department said such a poor response was shocking as several camps were also held to motivate farmers to adopt the technique.

The Tribune talked to various farmers and most of them said it was not feasible as when paddy was sown using this technique, the problem of ‘weeds’ troubled them a lot.

Ranjit Singh, another farmer from Sultanpur Lodhi, said he had been growing paddy using the technique for the past three years. “This time, I will go ahead with the conventional method. There are a lot of problems with the DSR technique,” he said.

Farmer Jatinder Singh from Lakhpur village said hardly anyone in his village had sown paddy using DSR technique. “It is a failed technique. The yield is less and weeds play a major spoilsport,” he said.

Another Nakodar farmer Vineet said he had also sown paddy on two acres using the DSR technique but there was no profit at all. “The farmers, who opted for the technique last year, decided to never adopt it again due to poor results,” he said.

Chief Agriculture Officer Jaswant Rai said continuous rain was the reason behind the farmers not adopting the technique. “If farmers use the technique properly, the weed problem won’t arise,” he said.