Tamil Nadu - Erode   

Rice intensification system of cultivation picks up in Erode district

Photo: M. Govarthan

For a bountiful harvest: System of Rice Intensification method of paddy cultivation has picked up well after the district administration took up promotional activities. —

ERODE: S. Manala of Avalpoondurai was upset with her husband P. Chinnathambi, who, she thought, the Agriculture Department had taken for a ride.

The reason for Ms. Manala’s discomfiture was that he had used only three kg of paddy for sowing as against the 30 he used normally. Her difference in perception did not stop there, though.

“I believed that he had gone astray listening to the Department’s words. Officers from the Department told him of new farming methods, which he embraced without second thoughts and my consultations.”

Things only worsened for Ms. Manala as time passed by, as the farm did not look green. “It appeared as though the transplanted paddy was few and far between,” she recalls. The perception led her to pick a fight with the Department officials as well.

What the wife was not aware was that husband Mr. Chinnathambi practiced the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), one of the trusted and widely acclaimed paddy cultivation methods.

As little more quantity of water flowed down the Lower Bhavani Project canal, more than the normal number of tillers appeared, bringing a smile back to her face.

The farm today looks green, and she has mended fences with the Department staff. There are several such Manalas, who the Department encountered in their efforts to spread SRI method of paddy cultivation.

In Modakurichi Block alone 750 hectares are under SRI. Across the district on 14,774 hectares farmers have embraced the method, and that is 40 per cent of the area under paddy cultivation at present in the district, says S. Somasundaram, joint director, Agriculture Department.

Next year the target is to bring 90 per cent of the paddy cultivation area under the system, says the Joint Director, adding that in accordance with the Collector’s order, the Department conducted several training programmes to propagate the method.

“Demonstration farms of 25 acres each in 20 places across the district were set up with a Government grant of Rs. 5 lakh,” he adds.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, ahead of a press tour conducted by the Department, Collector T. Udhayachandran said reasons for advocating SRI were, “With agriculture deciding the district’s economy to a large extent, the administration advocated best farming practices, including SRI for paddy, one of the important crops in the district. The second reason is that SRI addresses the issue of water supply for paddy, a water-intensive crop.”

He added that similar measures had been adopted for sugarcane, another water-intensive crop. “The district administration actively pursued drip irrigating sugar cane fields in the district, which also helped in increasing yield,” he said.

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