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

Jharkhand
Janeshwar Singh
Hulsam, Tola – Manfarwa
Chhatarpur Block,
Distt. Palamau, Jharkhand
Contact: Mr. Manoj Kumar Singh,
Vikas Shayog Kendra,
Chhatarpur, Palamau
Jharkhand.
Ph: 9431715087
Age: 55 years
Education: IX passed
Family size: Eight
Occupation(s): Agriculture
No. of years in farming:
38 years
Paddy cultivation
Farmer Singh has a nine acres field, of which 2.5 acres is the extent of paddy land.
He cultivates using the knowledge given by his father, Bishvambar Singh and gets
a yield of about 10 q/acre. Palamau is a drought-prone region and he depends on
the rains for irrigation.
SRI adoption
Keen to increase his yield, on 27 June 2006 he attended a training programme on
SRI, conducted by the Vikas Sahyog Kendra, Chhatarpur, at Kokro village, where
farmers from many other villages had come as well. He raised nursery using half
a kilogram of seeds. Some seeds were eaten up by his hens, but he cautiously
replanted the rest in 0.12 acre land and added one quintal of compost. Under
the supervision of the Vikas Sagyog Kendra staff, he planted the seedlings by
following marking system. Later he found that his yield had doubled, compared to
the conventional method. Similarly his SRI paddy escaped a local disease called
‘Bankee’.
Benefits
By following SRI, he could save seeds (4.7 kg/acre).
Transplantation time is saved by 5 hours.
Constraints in adoption
Farmers needed to protect seedlings from hens and squirrels because they sow
in a comparatively dry place.
Weeding was done as a new system, which was found difficult
Less availability of compost manure
34