CHANDIGARH, Apr 30: The Punjab government on Saturday announced financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per acre to farmers sowing paddy through the direct seeding of rice (DSR) technique to check depleting underground water table.
In his announcement, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also said the farmers can start sowing paddy through the DSR technique from May 20.
The Punjab government’s big decision is that a farmer who sows paddy through direct seeding will get Rs 1,500 per acre as financial assistance, said Mann in a video message here.
Mann while giving a clarion call to the farmers asked them to bring more agricultural land under direct sowing of paddy instead of the traditional paddy transplantation.
Mann also said the government would not only provide Rs 1,500 per acre financial help to farmers implementing direct paddy sowing in their fields but the agriculture department would also extend requisite cooperation and support for the same.
Under the DSR technique, paddy seeds are drilled into the field with the help of a machine that does seeding of rice and spray of herbicide simultaneously.
According to the traditional method, first young paddy plants are raised by farmers in nurseries and then these plants are uprooted and transplanted in a puddled field.
Expressing concern over the decreasing groundwater table, the chief minister underlined the need to save the groundwater.
The traditional methods of paddy sowing lead to excessive consumption of water, which resulted in depletion of the water table, the chief minister said, adding that some districts had fallen into the red zone category.
In a fervent appeal to farmers, Mann said, “This season not only you yourself come forward for direct sowing of rice but also motivate your relatives and friends for this in the interest of Punjab. Joint efforts can save the decreasing water table and all of us should join hands for this noble cause”.
Referring to innovations of agri-scientists, the chief minister said that the direct sowing was beneficial for the environment as well as economically viable for farmers, which also secured the yield of the crop. This technique will also be helpful in getting increased production of wheat in the fields, where direct sowing of paddy was adopted.
Last year, six lakh hectares, out of 28 lakh hectares of paddy area, were brought under the DSR method.
Notably, Mann held a meeting with 24 farmers’ organisations on April 17, where he urged them not only to adopt the direct seeding of rice method but also to make others aware of this so that the water table could be maintained.
He had also directed the officials to motivate farmers for saving precious water and electricity with the DSR technique in paddy season by visiting villages. (PTI)
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