Direct Seeding of Rice

Why in news?

Recently, the Punjab government has been actively promoting the direct seeding of rice (DSR).

Definition – It is a planting method that involves directly sowing of seeds in the field.
It requires no nursery preparation or transplantation.
Need of DSR – The conventional transplanting method require intense labour, continuous flooding of water and takes higher time and labour resources.

Transplanting Method of Rice

It is a planting method that involves the planting of seedlings or whole plants in the field or garden.
Requirement – seed germination may occur inside the greenhouse.
Advantages – Weed management is easier and it requires less amount of seeds.
Disadvantages – Slower maturation of crops.
It is expensive in comparing to DSR.
It require more usage of water and thereby affecting the ground water table.

Requirements – Soil suitability is crucial for the successful implementation of DSR.
Soil texture – DSR should be avoided in light-textured soils as they do not retain water well.
It is more suitable for heavy or medium-to-heavy-textured soils which contains more clay and less sand, whereas light-textured soils have less clay and more sand.
Iron content – Soil with severe iron deficiency, and weed problems must not be cultivated using this technique.
Even medium-textured soils are unsuitable simply due to their lack of iron.
In case iron supplements are being used, farmers should apply ferrace iron, which is green-coloured and not oxidised, rather than oxidised iron, which is brown in colour.
Lack of iron content can severely impact yields and lead to major financial losses for farmers.

Sowing of seeds – The paddy seeds are directly sown, roughly 20-30 days prior to when they would have been transplanted.
Soil levelling – The field is irrigated and laser leveled prior to the seeding process which is carried out using a seed drill or lucky seeder.
Seed treatment – The seeds soaked in a fungicide solution for eight hours, then dried for half a day before sowing.
Irrigation – The first round of irrigation is carried out 21 days after sowing, followed by 14-17 more rounds at 7-10 day intervals, depending on soil type and the quality of the monsoon.
The final irrigation takes place 10 days before harvest.
The traditional method requires 25-27 irrigations in total.

DSRBenefits

Saves water - This can reduce water use by 15% to 20% (the traditional puddling method requires 3,600 to 4,125 litres of water to grow a single kilo of rice).
Saves labour – DSR requires less labour and matures 7 to 10 days faster.
Ground water recharge – DSR offers avenues for ground water recharge as it prevent the development of hard crust just beneath the plough layer due to puddled transplanting.
Straw management – It matures 7-10 days earlier than puddle transplanted crop, therefore giving more time for management of paddy straw.
Higher yield – Research results have also indicated that yield, after DSR, are one to two quintals per acre higher than puddled transplanted rice.
Environment benefits – It leads to lower GHG emissions.
Labour welfare – Mechanized DSR provides employment opportunities for youth through service provision business model
It increases total income by reducing cost of cultivation.

Irrational use – In the race to avail the government incentives, some farmers use DSR in unsuitable soils, leading to the need for irrigation every second or third day.
This completely counteracts the water-saving benefits of DSR, and in fact, ends up guzzling down more water.
Less soil availability – Only 20% of Punjab’s soil is light-textured.
Lack of iron content – It should not be cultivated in sandy and loamy sand as these soils suffer from severe iron deficiency, and there is higher weed problem in it.
Higher seed rates – Seed monopoly automatically the price of seeds thereby reducing the income prospects for farmers.
Seeds exposed to birds and pests – Direct seeding increases the vulnerability of seed to get targeted by the pests and birds.
Weed management – There is higher growth of unsuitable plants in the DSR fields which compete the paddy crops and thereby reduce the yield.
Herbicide intolerance – While herbicide needs to be sprayed to control the weeds, irrational use make the crops intolerant to herbicide.

Awareness drive – A basic lack of awareness and understanding is holding DSR back.
Thus, awareness should be created for rational use of DSR.
Educating farmers – Extensive training and a ready helpline be provided, to handhold the farmers through the whole process, from pre-sowing to harvesting.
This can instill confidence among farmers regarding DSR’s efficacy.