VIJAYAWADA: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s phone call to a farmer in Krishna district last week to enquire about his “different type” of cultivation of paddy evokes interest among people about his method.
Uppala Prasad Rao, a farmer from Ghantasala Palem in Krishna district, who received the call from Telangana CM, explained that the drill seeding method, which he adopted for cultivating paddy, has yielded better results than the traditional method — nursery and transplantation.
“It is true, the seed drilling method of cultivation, which is a dry direct sowing method, is more cost effective, needs less labour and water than the traditional method. More so under the present circumstances where the cost of labour has increased and shortage of manpower is more due to Covid-19 pandemic,” said P Ramesh, principal scientist (rice) at Regional Agriculture Research Station, Maruteru in West Godavari district. Speaking to TNIE, Ramesh said there are three types of dry sowing methods, one is dry direct sowing method and other two are wet direct sowing methods.
“The method that came for discussion between Krishna district farmer and Telangana CM is dry direct sowing method. This type of cultivation is in practice for a long time, but in recent years more and more farmers are going for it,” he said.
Earlier oxen were employed to plough the fields and seeds were sown in the field by the person following the oxen. Now, tractors fitted with seed drillers are employed for dry cultivation. Without any field preparatory work, soil is tilled and seeds are sown at the same time.
“Unlike traditional methods, where the fields have to be in wet condition, in dry direct cultivation, tractors plough the land and seed is sowed directly into the soil at the same time. Advantage of this is that seeds are sown at uniform depth in rows and uniform spacing between the rows, which provides good scope for growth of the plant,” he said.
After the sowing is completed, watering is done in a regulated manner over a period of time for a healthy crop and better yield. In the traditional method, nursery is prepared, that is seeds are sown in a part of the field and the seedlings with 3-4 leaves are transplanted to the main field. It requires more farmhands for transplanting seedlings from nursery to the main field and the entire process of preparing the field, nursery, sowing and transplanting takes about 25 days to one month.
“In dry direct cultivation, this one month’s time is saved and the amount invested on farm hands for transplantation is also saved, as the requirement of labour in dry direct cultivation is minimal. Most importantly, it reduces the requirement of seed by more than 50 per cent and water requirement considerably compared to the traditional methods. This method is more suitable for cultivating paddy during Rabi and can be taken up before the onset of Monsoon. This method is being adopted more in twin Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts,” Ramesh explained.
The second direct sowing method is wet direct cultivation, which has two types — broadcasting (scattering seeds) and drum seeder method. “In the board casting method, the seeds are scattered in the field, which is in puddling condition ( practice of mixing surface soil with water to make it soft for transplanting). However, the crop grows non-uniform and the yield is less. Drum seeding is done by using an implement called drum seeder and the method is similar to drill seeding but is done in puddling condition,” Ramesh explained.
In dry direct sowing, 8-12 acres can be sown in a day while in wet direct sowing, 3-4 acres can be completed in a day. Though there is another cultivation method called SRI, as it being high labour intensive, there are less takers for it. Though machine transplanters are increasingly being brought into use, more and more farmers prefer dry direct sowing in rice cultivation in the State.
A better way to grow paddy?
There are three types of dry sowing methods, one is dry direct sowing method and other two are wet direct sowing methods. A look
What is dry sowing?
Without any field preparatory work, soil is tilled and seeds are sown at the same time. In dry direct cultivation, tractors plough the land and seed is sowing directly into the soil at the same time
Advantage of this is that seeds are sown at uniform depth in rows and uniform spacing between the rows, which provides good scope for growth of the plant. After sowing, watering is done in a regulated manner over a period of time.
This method is being adopted more in twin Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts
In dry direct sowing, 8-12 acres can be sown in a day while in wet direct sowing, 3-4 acres can be completed in a day
Traditional method
Seeds are sown in a part of the field and seedlings with 3-4 leaves are transplanted to the main field
It requires more farmhands for transplanting seedlings from nursery to the main field and the entire process of preparing the field, nursery, sowing and transplanting takes about 25 days to one month
Wet direct method
Wet direct cultivation is of two types — broadcasting and drum seeder method. In the board casting method, seeds are scattered in the field. Drum seeding is done using an implement called drum seeder