Experiences of Farmers in India Experiences of Farmers in ... - AgSri

Farmers’ Experiences
Dinesh Chandra Ray
Tangabari,
Chirang
Assam
Contact: Mr. Aswini Bhattacharya,
PRADAN, Bongaigaon, Assam,
Ph: 9854030034
Age: 52 years
Education: VIII pass
Occupation(s): Agriculture
No. of years in farming: Since childhood
Paddy cultivation
His total agriculture land is 5 acres, of which paddy land is 1.75 acres. He uses a
Dong or traditional water-channel for irrigation. The other inputs he uses are FYM,
Urea, SSP and MoP. The yield obtained is 0.6 -1.0 t/acre for the traditional variety
and 1.1-1.7 t/acre for the HYV.
SRI adoption
Dinesh Ray came to know about SRI from the staff of PRADAN, a local NGO, in
the first week of June’08. Agricultural Development Officer of Govt. of Assam also
told the farmers about the method. After long discussion he volunteered along with
11 others for SRI cultivation in the kharif season in an area of 2.5 acres each,
albeit with skepticism. PRADAN staff provided training and technical guidance
in the process of cultivation. Mr. Ray was given a complete package of practices
for the method that he followed accordingly. However, due to initial skepticism he
transplanted two seedlings instead of one in about 0.33 acres of land. He observed
a marked difference in tillers development and over all crop health in that plot, where
he followed SRI.
A Japanese paddy-weeder was supplied to him by PRADAN, which is also available
in the local market.
Benefits
Dinesh Ray’s SRI plot has 25-33 effective tillers which are much higher compared
to 8-12 in the conventional method. He is expecting a yield of about 3 to 3.6 t/acre
which is more than double the present practices. He has decided to practice SRI in
his entire 12 bigha land (5 acres) next year.
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