Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination (Topic: Direct Seeding of Rice)

Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Direct Seeding of Rice

To cope up with the labour scarcity amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Punjab government has stepped up its efforts to encourage farmers to switch over to direct seeding of rice (DSR) instead of the traditional transplantation of paddy this year.

Dry and wet-seeding, in which seeds are sown directly in the main field instead of transplanting rice seedlings, are commonly referred to as direct seeding.
Dry DSR: In Dry-DSR, rice is established using several different methods, including (i) broadcasting of dry seeds on unpuddled soil after either zero tillage (ZT) or conversion tillage (CT) (ii) dibbled method in a well-prepared field and (iii) drilling of seeds in rows after CT, minimum tillage (MT) using a power tiller-operated seeder.
Wet DSR: Wet-DSR involves sowing of pregerminated seeds on or into puddled soil. When pregerminated seeds are sown on the surface of puddled soil, the seed environment is mostly aerobic and this is known as aerobic Wet-DSR.
When pregerminated seeds are sown/drilled into puddled soil, the seed environment is mostly anaerobic and this is called as anaerobic Wet-DSR.

The technology is expected to save irrigation water, labour and energy (power).
The technique would be instrumental in saving about 30 per cent of water besides cutting the cost of paddy cultivation by nearly Rs 6,000 per acre.
The technology has a wider adaptability as it is suitable for medium to heavy textured soils including sandy loam, loam, clay loam and silt loam, which account for 87% area of the State.
Direct seeding of pre-germinated rice has resulted in to the reduced methane emissions due to a shorter flooding period and decreased soil disturbance compared to transplanting rice seedlings.

Farmers, however, pointed out that the shortage of labour and economic compulsions rising out of COVID-19 lockdown has compelled them to move towards DSR.
Punjab has a target to sow paddy on 26 lakh hectares, including around seven lakh hectares under highly remunerative basmati rice, this season.
For this, the state needs at least 600,000 labourers to transplant paddy if it goes by the traditional method

A major problem with the DSR is that of weeds. In traditional system, the sapling is taller than the weeds right from the time of transplanting and there is no problem at the time of harvest.
But in DSR both the weeds and the plant grow simultaneously and it is bound to cause major problem at the time of harvest.
The farmers have not been trained and guided properly in the DSR. They do not know at what depth they need to put the seed. DSR method may also give less yield.
Further, promoting DSR could corporatise agriculture which will harm the farmer and the country.
The marginal and small farmers are not in a position to purchase seeding machines and pushing them towards these machines will add to their burden of debt.
The DSR needs to be first well-established and it needs to be ensured that farmers will get the required seeds and herbicides from the government agencies and not the multinational corporations.