The Hindu : There is still hope, say farm experts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 02, 2002

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There is still hope, say farm experts

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI AUG. 1. The Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has passed on drought-tolerant varieties of pearl millet (bajra), sorghum (jowar), chickpea, groundnut and pigeon pea to drought-affected States in northern India as short-duration, late-sowing crop, the Director-General, William Dar, said here on Monday.

According to the scientists of ICRISAT, even jowar production in Rajasthan can be salvaged with their variety of seeds.

About 250 tonnes of jowar seeds has been passed on to the State Government.

The National Seed Corporation has multiplied this into 400 tonnes, of which 150 tonnes have gone into private hands.

The seeds have a 75-day cycle and can be planted even if it rains in the next four to five days. So all is not lost in Rajasthan.

According to a scientist at the International Rice Research Institute, direct-seeding, early-maturing (75 to 100 days) rice seeds are available for planting in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and such rice-growing areas.

These include Heera, Kalinga 3, Prabhat, Gobind, Narendra AT, Narendra 97 and Turant Dhan and can be grown immediately after some rainfall.

In areas where there are less chances of planting rice, short-duration pulses — greengram, blackgram, horsegram, etc — can be sown till August-end. Crops such as fingermillet/ragi sorghum can be sown till August-end. Different oilseed crops with early-maturing varieties such as sesame, groundnut, sunflower can be sown till August-end.

In rain-fed areas, instead of traditional crops, mustard, linseed, safflower, lentil, chickpea and barley can be grown from October onwards.

The important thing is the quick availability of these seeds to farmers.

The Government has announced that farmers can go in for "truthfully labelled seeds" alongside certified seeds.

According to Dr. Dar, advance planning in conservation of rain water and an alert watch on the seed situation should be done as an annual exercise to avert the stress from drought.

ICRISAT is promoting research-cum-capacity building projects in three drought-prone districts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and in five districts of Andhra Pradesh using watershed development as a core strategy to mitigate the impact of drought.

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