Farmers in Palani area are betting on a new variety of paddy, CO-51, thanks to high tillers and large quantum of grains in each tiller raised on a trial field.
“The crop raised on the trial field is ready for harvesting. I expect to get 12 tonnes,” said S. Manoharan, a farmer who has raised this variety on six acres at Balasamuthiram village.
“Unlike other varieties with a gestation period of 140 days, this new variety is ready for harvest in 105-110 days. I not only save 30 days but there is also reduction in production cost, use of water, fertilizers and other inputs,” he said.
Even if there was a delay in transplantation owing to delay in release of water or late arrival of monsoon, the crop could be harvested. Such delays would have adverse effects on other varieties of paddy.
Above all, CO-51 was tolerant to blast disease that affected yield drastically. It could withstand adverse weather conditions, he said.
While his crops stood erect, paddy crops in nearby fields were battered down by the recent rain. His fields have become a model farm as many farmers come and inspect it.
Entire produce
to be procured
Having impressed by the successful trials, agriculture department officials plan to procure his entire produce for multiplication and distribution. The procured grains will be processed at a seed processing unit and distributed to farmers for multiplication. Though farmers in Virudhunagar district had already placed orders for the seeds, priority would be given to farmers in Dindigul district, said M. Thangasamy, Deputy Director of Agriculture.
‘We received breeder seeds from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and distributed them to farmers for field trials. The system of rice intensification (SRI) method has helped in increasing the yield. The new variety is well suited for ‘kuruvai,’ late samba and ‘navarai’ seasons,” he said.
To maintain physical purity in grains, farmers should remove ‘rogue’ (other variety of paddy) from the trial field. Training would be imparted to workers to identity other varieties.
Failure in detecting the foreign variety would affect the seed quality, said Assistant Director Suruliappan.
Adoption of latest technologies, maximising use of organic and green manure and split application of chemical fertilizers were behind the farmer’s success, he added.
Palani, Athoor, Batlagundu and Nilakottai blocks are the major paddy producing centres in Dindigul district where paddy has been raised on 20,000 hectares.
