‘Unsuitable seed varieties fail during drought’

January 04, 2017 12:57 am | Updated 12:57 am IST

Tiruvannamalai: Certain seed varieties of paddy sold in the market with a ‘high yielding’ tag without sufficient field trial perpetuate crop failure, a section of farmers and agricultural officials said.

The traditional paddy varieties, on the other hand, withstand the drought conditions and monsoon failures better when compared to the strange varieties, they argued.

Referring to the high-yielding ‘Bapatla’ rice varieties of Andhra Pradesh, they said, “Farmers here quickly embraced Bapatla varieties as they are seen as high yielding fine rice with a good market value though agricultural department has not notified it. But in this year of monsoon failure and drought it is found to be easily taking hit leading to failure of crop,” said P.T.Rajendran, a lead farmer and district secretary of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam.

“Amirthalingam, a farmer in Kappalur, cultivated Bapatla in three acres and ended up harvesting only 15 bags. Another farmer Sampath in Kalasapakkam got nearly 10 bags per acre by cultivating Bapatla. However, traditional varieties of paddy like Kalarpalai and Vadansamba, naturalised hybrid variety like Ponni , time-tested hybrid varieties of ADT series fared better ,” he added.

“I myself cultivated Kalarpalai, Ponni and Bapatla in my land. While Kalarpalai gave excellent yield, Ponni withstood well and Bapatla wilted quickly. It is not the government but only the market that fulfils the needs of the farmers. Traders promote certain varieties of seeds without much local field trial . Farmers don’t even recall the names of the varieties that they cultivate,” Mr.Rajendran said.

Officials in the agricultural department spoke on condition of anonymity that the Central government was no more subsidising the seeds of time-tested varieties such as ADT 37 (called Gundu) and ADT 43 (called deluxe). It insisted that subsidy could be given only to newer varieties of seeds. But it was hard to find successful alternatives to these varieties. About 75 per cent of seeds required by farmers were supplied by the market.

When asked for better practices to be adopted during drought, he said over-use of urea made crops greener but they easily wilted in the drought. Application of certain chemicals to protect crop during drought were being suggested. But it would be unsafe to apply them without proper training, he said.

Another officer, an expert in the matters of rice, also said it would be advisable to choose time tested varieties. He also suggested that farmers get used to the judicious use of water. Only a thin layer of water would be enough in the paddy fields, he added.

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