South farmers introduced to better performing organic rice

GANGTOK, 20 Nov: After Budang in West district, it was the turn of farmers from South Sikkim to attend a demonstration of the superior performance of organic rice in fields of fellow farmers at Manghim, where the pilot project has been underway for four months.
Organized by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Namthang on 19 November 2013, the programme was presided over by ward panchayat, Ms. Binu Subba and was attended by more than 25 farmers of the area.
The significance of the event was highlighted by IP Shivakoti, SMS while a detailed recap was provided by Tilak Gajmer, Programme Co-ordinator on SRI (System of Rice Intensification), its key agronomic features and relevance in drought-prone areas and as a mitigating measure against climate change.
Stressing the need to upscale technology in view of obvious benefits SRI had on enhancing yield and income, especially for marginal and small landholding farmers of the state, he urged that farmers upgrade.
The KRH-2 rice variety of medium duration (125-130 days) with high yielding potential which has shown a good degree of adaptation as also a high level of adoption in recent years. An official press release informs that with the efforts of Department of Food Security and Agriculture Development, this variety along with other recently-introduced varieties such as CAU-R 1 has successfully replaced some of the older hybrid varieties.
With NABARD as funding agency, the programme was held as part of technological intervention by NABARD and is under implementation for the second consecutive year following success and encouraging response from farmers the last year.
Dr. RD Ghatak, SMS and Phurba Diki Sherpa, Program Assistant conducted crop cutting experiments in order to provide realistic estimate of crop yield of the KRH-2 variety in the micro agro-climatic zone. In addition, FLD (Field Level Demonstration) on harvesting rice using Vaibhav sickle was also conducted by Pravesh Shivakoty, SMS, along with Tshering Dorjee Tamang, Farm Manager.