Haryana opts for direct sowing of paddy in big way

“If a farmer opts for DSR, then it saves half the water in comparison to the water requirement for traditional method of puddled transplantation of rice (PTR). We offer an incentive of Rs 4,000 per acre for opting for DSR,” Dalal added.

Although DSR does not need labour, it needs several sprays of weedicides to control weeds. In PTR, flood irrigation acts as a weedicide. The officials say shortage of labour coupled with a financial incentive has encouraged the farmers to go for DSR this year.

According to the state government’s biennial Integrated Water Resources Action Plan, the government has targeted direct seeding of paddy in 4.75 lakh acres, thus saving 1.18 lakh crore litres (8.4 per cent) in the next two years.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar recently said that the total water availability of the state is 20,93,598 crore litres whereas the total water demand is 34,96,276 crore litres making a water gap of 14 lakh crore litres. Khattar said that the maximum amount of water is used in agriculture and horticulture sector, which are 86 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. Continuous efforts are needed to reduce water consumption by adopting water conservation methods, he added.

For water conservation, the ‘mera pani-meri virasat’ scheme was also launched in 2020. Under the scheme, the farmers are given an incentive of Rs 7,000 per acre for opting pulses, cotton, maize and horticulture which includes vegetables and fruits in place of water-guzzling paddy. However, the scheme has failed to impress the farmers much.

Dalal said: “It’s true that the farmers don’t want to leave paddy because there is a production worth nearly Rs 70,000 per crop season. This year, the prices of basmati rice are at an all-time high.”

In these circumstances, the government has now focused more on the DSR technique for paddy sowing.

Dalal had earlier stated that the contract system for land cultivation is a major challenge for crop diversification as the cultivator who takes the land for only one year wants to make maximum output from the land by using fertilisers and pesticides. “More than half of the land is being cultivated under the contract system under which landless or those who have very small pieces of land take the land on annual contract for cultivation purposes in Haryana. Like, those families whose members get government jobs prefer to give their land contract for cultivation purposes. This annual contract value ranges from Rs 10,000 to Rs 70,000 per acre keeping in view the quality and location of the land concerned. We are considering how to convince these cultivators to leave the wheat-paddy circle.”

Still, the government has targeted to bring 3.14 lakh acres under the scheme under ‘mera pani-meri virasat’ scheme in next two years to save 1.05 lakh crore litres (7.6 per cent) of the total available water in Haryana.