The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Tiruchi News : Farmers expect double output through SRI

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Thursday, Nov 20, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Farmers expect double output through SRI

Staff Reporter

Commissioner orders exposure visit to Tiruvannamalai

Photo: M. Moorthy

WELL-EQUIPPED: S. Kosalraman, Commissioner for Agriculture (second from left), looking at the use of a weeder at Ariyamangalam near Tiruchi on Wednesday. —

TIRUCHI: Farmers of Tiruverambur block in the district have expressed confidence over doubling their harvest in ‘samba’ paddy varieties through the adoption of System of Rice Intensification (SRI) technique. Interestingly, most of them are new to the technique being popularised by the Agriculture Department.

At an interaction session on ‘SRI technique’ with Commissioner of Agriculture S. Kosalraman at Ariyamangalam village near here on Wednesday, the paddy-cultivators said that the crop growth was so promising that they were optimistic of doubling their per acre harvest from 30 bags through conventional technique to at least 60 bags through SRI technique.

A farmer, R. Ravi, who had brought nine acres under the crop said that farmers should be sensitised to the need for clearing the weeds within 10 days during the initial period, lest it should have an adverse impact on the harvest.

R. Sridhar said that the cultivation cost had been reduced to a great extent as the farmers were relieved of the expense on chemical fertiliser. Another farmer, Dhanabal Susai, described how he had motivated at least 10 farmers to adopt the SRI technique.

Retired headmaster-turned-farmer K. Saveriar said the SRI technique was suited to any variety.

Farmers pleaded for re-designing the kono-weeder. Expenditure on clearing the weeds was dearer in the wake of the serious scarcity of agricultural labourers. The manually operated equipment should be made a power-operated device, they said.

The Commissioner appealed to them to minimise irrigational facility for a higher yield by adopting ‘dry and irrigate’ technique alternately. The SRI fields should be kept dry for a few days, followed by irrigation.

In this context, he directed Joint Director of Agriculture N. Ponnusamy to arrange for an exposure visit of Tiruverambur paddy-growers to Tiruvannamalai, where farmers with limited irrigation facility had registered 15 tonnes a hectare.

Assistant Director of Agriculture R. Ravi said that 336 hectares had been brought under the SRI technique in Tiruverambur block this time against 120 hectares last season.

The varieties grown included BPT-5204; CO-43; CR-1009, white Ponni and the ‘Seeraga samba’. Deputy Director of Agriculture S. Sivaraj spoke.

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