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

Pondicherry
Paddy cultivation
62
Ramasamy
#47, Middle Street
Pillayarkuppam
Thondamanatham (Po)
Pondicherry– 605 502
Contact: Ms.S. Puspalatha,
Chairperson,
Ekoventure, Pondicherry
Ph: 0413-2275812
Age: 46 years
Education: XII passed
Occupation(s): Agriculture
No. of years in farming: 25
Farmer Ramasamy has 5 acres of agriculture land, in that he cultivates paddy in 4
acres. He depends on his bore well. He applies FYM and chemical fertilizers and
pesticides in his filed. He gets a yield of 2.6 to 3 t/acre.
SRI adoption
He has come to know about the SRI through the local NGO Ekoventure. He adopted
it in 10 cents (0.1 acre) during May 2002 and obtained a yield of 33 quintals. Having
trained by Ms.Puspalatha of Ekoventure, he gradually increased his area to two
acres now in 2008. He has practiced SRI during the past 12 seasons. He cultivates
local ruling varieties like Chinna Ponni, White Ponni (samba), ADT-37, Annalakshmi.
Apart from chemical fertilizers, he applies bio-fertilizers also. He follows all the SRI
practices recommend by the Ekoventure. He uses rope with marking for transplanting.
He has taken Marker from Ekoventure to use for the current samba season and
experienced difficulty in pulling it because of the heavy clay soil. He is comfortable
with rope. For weeding operations he uses a Conoweeder. He encountered pests
like Leaf-folder, Stem-borer, and used Karate pesticide in one season. He obtained
a yield of 3.5 to 3.8 t/acre.
Benefits
Less seed, less water, family labour for removal of seedlings.
More productive tillers, high grain & straw yield.
Good quality grain, reduced fertilizers and pesticide usage.
No lodging in I.W.Ponni variety during heavy rains.
Less labour for transplanting (SRI 10 numbers & Conventional 16 numbers/
acre) and, good quality straw for cattle consumption.