CHANDIGARH, AUGUST 4:
Punjab farmers have shown keen interest to adopt Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) during the current paddy season by bringing 6.01 lakh hectares (15.02 lakh acres) of area under this innovative technology, which is the highest ever in the state till date as per report of Punjab remote sensing centre , Ludhiana.
Nearly, 23 per cent of total area under paddy has been brought under this water saving technology this year.
The farmers of Bathinda district lead across the state to adopt DSR in a big way with 52,760 hectares under this novel technique followed by Sri Muktsar Sahib and Fazilka districts with 46,820 hectares and 45,850 hectares respectively.
Disclosing this here today, Director Agriculture Sukhdev Singh Sidhu said that the last year about 5 lakh hectares was under DSR technology instead of traditional transplantation of paddy in which Sri Muktsar Sahib farmers took a lead by bringing 46,510 hectares. He further said that the state farmers enthusiastically switched to DSR and area increased to 6.01 lakh hectares current paddy season. He also mentioned that under this technology, approximately, 10-15 per cent of water could be saved by the farmers.
On the directions of the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, he said, the Agriculture department has also launched a special drive in association with Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana to encourage the farmers to adopt direct sowing of paddy in a big way. These efforts are getting massive response from farmers across Punjab, he added.
This technique also remained an instrumental last year with saving about 15-20 per cent of water besides cutting the cost of paddy cultivation. As per reports and research of PAU experts, the yield of paddy from DSR is at par with paddy crop grown by conventional technique of transplanting, added Mr. Sidhu.
