Why in the news?

• The Punjab government recently announced Rs 1,500 incentive per acre for farmers opting for Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR), which is known for saving water.

How much area in Punjab is under rice crop?

• According to Punjab Agriculture Department data for last Kharif season (2021-22), 31.45 lakh hectares (over 3.1 million hectares) was under paddy and basmati, including 26.60 under non-basmati rice and 4.85 lakh hectares under basmati.

How much water is required to grow one kg rice?

• Paddy is non-shelled rice that farmers grow and sell in mandis and then after milling paddy rice is prepared. According to the studies by Punjab Agriculture university (PAU), Ludhiana, around 3,600 litres to 4,125 litres of water is required to grow one kg rice depending upon the paddy variety.
• Long duration varieties consume more water. In Punjab, 32% of the area is under the long duration (around 158 days) paddy varieties, and the rest comes under paddy varieties that take 120 to 140 days to grow. So, on an average 3,900 to 4,000 litres of water is required to grow one kg rice in the state.

How much water can DSR help save?

• Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR) technique can help save 15% to 20% water. In some cases, water saving can reach 22% to 23%.
• With DSR,15-18 irrigation rounds are required against 25 to 27 irrigation rounds in traditional method.
• Since the area under rice in Punjab is almost stagnant around 3 million hectares for the last three to four years, DSR can save 8100 to 1,0800 billion litres of water every year if the entire rice crop is brought under the technique, said experts.

Are there any other benefits of DSR tech?

• According to experts, DSR can solve labour shortage problem because, like the traditional method, it does not require a paddy nursery and transplantion of 30 days old paddy nursery into the main puddled field. With DSR, paddy seeds are sown directly with a machine.
• DSR offers avenues for ground water recharge as it prevents the development of hard crust just beneath the plough layer due to puddled transplanting and it matures 7-10 days earlier than puddle transplanted crop, therefore giving more time for management of paddy straw.
• Experts said that with the DSR technique, which is called ‘tar-wattar DSR’ (good soil moisture), farmers must sow paddy only after pre-sowing (rauni) irrigation and not in dry fields.
• Further, the field should be laser levelled. They said that spraying of herbicide must be done simultaneously along with sowing, and the first irrigation, which is done at 21 days after sowing.

Reference:

1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-why-punjabs-dsr-push-matters-how-much-groundwater-will-it-save-farmers-7903504/