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

Tamil Nadu
K. Swaminathan
Agraharam Street, Kamakshipuram
Tanjavur
Tamil Nadu
Ph: 9444659142
Contact: Mr.Ramasubramaniyan,
Chief, Samanvaya
Mylapore, Chennai 600 004.
Ph: 9444957781
Age: 45 years
Education: B.Com, B.L
Family size: Seven
Occupation(s): Agriculture and Law
No. of years in farming: Four
Paddy cultivation
Swaminathan’s total agriculture land is 35 acres, while the extent of paddy land is 22
acres. His water sources are bore well, and the Kaveri river. The soil in his land is a
black clay soil, in which he uses organic farm yard manure and organic inputs.
SRI adoption
He learnt about SRI from media reports and the farming community and adopted it in
the year 2006. Since he began on his own, he learnt it by trial and experimentation.
Swaminathan is pursuing SRI despite resistance from his own family as well as
labourers in his region, though his father had prior experience with row-planting and
early transplantation. Even though he had received subsidy for 3 acres this year, he
did not start SRI practice with the subsidy in mind, he said. Hence he would continue
with SRI even if the subsidy is stopped. In his village, two of his cousins are also
practicing SRI and in total there are about 50 acres under SRI.
Presently, Swaminathan has 22 acres under SRI. He cultivates varieties like Ponni,
ADT 36 / 43 / 46, P.S. 44, CR 1009, and some hybrids. He uses organic farm yard
manure, micronutrients and bio-fertilizers, cow-dung compost, Amirtha Karaisal etc.,
as inputs. He uses every possible tools and implements like Conoweeder, Rope
Marker, Seed-drum, Harvester, and Leaf-colour cards.
He follows the SRI Practices as given below:
Transplanting younger seedlings of 15 days old
Square planting of 2 seedlings together
Wide square pattern (distances varying 22.5 cm 2
, 30 X 25 cm 2 , & 30 cm 2 )
Intermittent wetting and drying
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