Nearly, 84 villages adopt SRI cultivation method in Tiruchy

Thiruchirapalli

The SRI is a technique of planting minimal amount of paddy saplings with a fair distance of 25 centimetre between one sapling and another, for getting a maximum amount of yield.

The conventional method cultivation gives the maximum yield of two tonne per acre, while the SRI cultivation gives 2.8 tonne per acre. The cultivation cost is also lesser. For instance, only 3 kg of seed would be need per acre, while in the conventional process around 20 kg per acre would be required. Similarly, around 40 per cent of the water could be saved under the SRI method.

Meanwhile, the production cost is also less when compared to the conventional method. The conventional method needs at least Rs 25,000 per acre, but Rs 20,000 per acre is enough for the SRI cultivation.

According to Tiruchy district collector K Rajamani, it has been planned to cover 1.25 lakh acre under samba cultivation in Tiruchy this year and, so far, 50,000 acres have been covered. The remaining area would be completed by the end of November. He added that the state government has been promoting the SRI cultivation to help the farmers in various aspects, including 40 per cent more yield than the conventional method.

Since the SRI cultivation has been a boon to the farmers, the district administration has directed the agri officials to provide elaborate awareness among the farmers who have gradually turning to the method.

“There are nearly 84 assistant agricultural officers in the district and each officer were asked to concentrate on one revenue village. Now, as many as 84 villages have started cultivating under SRI method,” the collector added.