Where in many parts of the State farmers are still struggling with sowing seeds, around 25,000 farmers in different districts of Jharkhand are already hoping a good paddy crop this year, despite the rainfall being less than 48 per cent till now.

Jharkhand Tribal Development Society (JTDS), an agency of State Government has introduced the Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) technique in 14 districts of the State, which will help farmers save around 30 days time in the process of crop plantation, thus ensuring good production within the timeline of existing rainfall.

Ashish Anand, additional project director at JTDS said, "The DSR technique is being implemented in around 33,000 acres of land across the State with every farmer having an average of around 1.5 acre land, thus directly involving around 25,000 farmers."

The project is supported by International Fund fir Agricultural Development, a specialised agency of the United Nations. "The basic purpose of the project is to develop a mechanism where land can be cultivated and crops grown even in the situation of erratic rainfall," Anand said.

Talking about the agricultural land distribution, Anand said that while 40 per cent land is upland and uncultivated land, 32 per cent is forest land. "The agricultural land is less than 30 per cent which is not sufficient for livelihood so we are promoting farming on upland and uncultivated land," he said.

Usually in Jharkhand, 140 day paddy seeds are used, which at times die out in places which witness less rainfall or has no option of standing water in the fields.

However, JTDS is distributing seeds which can be prepared from 90 to 140 days, depending on the type of land. For instance, in upland, the seeds of 90 day crop are being distributed so that the crop can be prepared with limited rainfall, while in down land, 140 day seeds are being distributed as there would be ample still water available in farms here.

Seeds, organic fertilizers, farm equipment and Pest management inputs are provided free of cost to the farmers by JTDS under this project.

Prem Shankar of Pradan, the organization providing technical support to JTDS in implementation of the project informed that instead of undergoing the process of sowing and then transplantation, the seeds are sowed in such way under DSR technique that there is no need of transplantation.

“Usually, the farmers just throw around the seeds in the farms and when the sapling grows they are transplanted in a row. This is not just a time taking process but also leads the saplings into transplantation shock, recovering from which takes at least 10 to 15 days,” Prem Shankar said.

He informed that the DSR technique reduces the overall plantation duration by around 25 to 30 days.

 The farmers have been taught three methods of DSR including sowing and maintaining the lines and distance between seeds through bullocks, using zero till machine or seed driller with tractor or using wooden liners to sow seeds.

Nirmala Tete, a farmer from Sewai village in Simdega who has adapted the DSR technique said, "This is a cost effective and time saving process. Also, it requires less labour. I will be using this method in the coming years too if the production is good this time."