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

Farmers’ Experiences
Suresh Kushwaha
Kopra
Shahdol
Madhya Pradesh
Contact: Mr. Sandeep Khanwalkar,
MPRLP, Bhopal, M.P.
Ph: 9425303566.
Age: 32 years
Education: 8 th passed
Family size: Five
Occupation(s): Agriculture
No. of years in farming: Five
Paddy cultivation
He is cultivating paddy in 4 acres of land. His main source of irrigation is rain
water. He used to get an average yield of 6 q/acre
SRI adoption
SRI concept was new to the farmers of his village. Entire village traditionally cultivate
paddy. Broadcasting method is a commonly adopted method by majority of the
farmers. Few farmers do transplantation of seedling by adopting flooding method.
Thus SRI was a new thing to all of them. He learnt it in the Farmers’ Field School
(FFS) run by MPRLP. FFS helped him understanding various new technologies
and practices. In regular trainings organized before kharif season, he was trained
on SRI. Some of the farmers decided to adopt the method in a small piece of land
this year. He was one of them. All plots, including his, started SRI with the guidance
of Project Facilitation Team members. As it was first time, he did it in only in 1.5
acres out of total 4 acres. He has chosen most commonly used variety IR-64. Seed
treatment was done using Tricoderma at the rate of 3g/kg. He also applied D.A.P.,
Urea, and Zink for better production in his plot.
First Step: Land was prepared to maintain the moisture in the field.
Second Step: Preparation of nursery bed was done. Size of each nursery bed was
15x1x0.15 m 3 . Total 5 kg of seeds were used for nursery raising.
Third Step: Transplantation of seedlings were done after 10 days. Each seedling
was transplanted maintaining equal distance between row to row and plant to
plant.
Fourth Step: Maintaining of moisture up to 21 days after transplantation.
49