SRI in Orissa - Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture ...

the four others contained 700-750 each. Year after year
Mr. Satpathy kept counting the number of tillers, mature
panicles, viable grains and the weight of the grains of rice
plants grown in a solitary place in the midst of a shallow
channel, or a shallow bottom of a pond. The most vigorous
plant had 92 panicles weighing 135 grams.
Box 9.1: My love affair with photo-period-sensitive varieties of rice
When I had just begun farming a friend invited me to visit his
farm. There he presented me a rice panicle from the variety called
Haldigundi, a long duration photo-sensitive indigenous variety with
a good quality and yield potential. It impressed me greatly. The
outstanding feature was its extra long panicles. My love for Haldigundi
began then and there. Its panicles were 35 cm. long, having 400-350
seeds per panicle, yellow-brown in colour, bolls of about 38.5 grams
per 1000 seeds at 26,000 seeds per kg.
In August 1979 I got another variety called OR-117-1, on which
I had no information whatsoever. He sowed seeds in the seedbed
quite late on the 9th of August and transplanted 25 days after
sowing. It took 117 days to mature. Next year I sowed the seeds
in the seed-bed in time, i.e. in the second week of June. However,
it matured at the same period of the previous year in December,
taking 160 days instead of 117 days. In both years the yield was
good and almost equal. I was intrigued, puzzled. This variety could
be sown late and its duration period could be shortened up to 40
days by manipulating the sowing dates without much less yield! So
why then are they classified as 150-160-180 days varieties? Indian
farmers were familiar with such phenomena and knew the answer
through ages of observation. The important physiological stages were
marked by rituals and celebrations. Ignorant of the phenomena, I
took it as a revelation.
Not only was this intriguing, in my particular circumstances this
could also be very useful. Because most labourers are marginal to
medium-level cultivators and first complete their own works. So I
get them mostly from mid August to November and again from mid
December onwards. I had to schedule my work accordingly. 75% of
my land is now planted late – from mid-August to mid-September
– and harvested late in the month of December. This urgency has
forced me to learn and to find out why photo-sensitive varieties
could be planted late, why they still can be harvested at a fixed
time of a month, how they could be manipulated to be used as a
short to mid-duration variety, how they could be used as
dalua crop, as ratoon crop, and be simultaneously suitable for
rice-fish systems.
Next year I chose the Haldigundi variety to verify these mechanisms
myself. He sowed seeds from the first week of June to the 9th of
August, and transplanted on different dates, transplanting 30 to 70
day old seedlings. All plants matured between the 25th and 30th of
November. I continued working on this, and as late as 1983 I had
prepared a list of indigenous photo-period sensitive rice varieties
which flowered and matured on different dates of the months. There
were certain desi varieties which matured on almost every week of
the month, starting from September to January. Before the advent
of HYV photo-insensitive varieties, farmers just choose a variety
out of a number of prevalent varieties, keeping an eye on its time
of harvesting. I regret it that now all these excellent varieties are
almost extinct.
Meanwhile I have learnt from Dr. A. Mishra who I consulted on
this matter that photo-period-sensitivity means that the plant
requires a specific day-length and some agro-climatic conditions
for the completion of its cycle. It may need to wait for the proper
time to come, called the lag-vegetative phase, and at this time
it does not grow. This may last from 0 to about 60 days. So by
reducing the duration the yield is not reduced, but only the lagvegetative
period is omitted. This discovery has been of great
value to me. 28
System of Mustard Intensification (SMI)
One of the most interesting instances illustrating his
inquisitive mind was an experiment with mustard plants,
which he conducted since 1985. By chance he had found
out that when a desi variety of an Indian mustard plant
would be planted singly and with adequate space in a
fertile field, it could yield as much as 250 gm/plant. This
is an enormous yield when compared to yields of normal
mustard cultivation practices. He experimented with this
over the years, and developed a system of cultivation which
he presented at several meetings. This remarkable innovation
even became the feature of a documentary made by the ETV
Oriya. By using 200-400 gm of the seed per hectare, raising
them in a nursery and transplanting the young seedlings
in the wet field in lines, the yield can increase about 150
to 200%.
At another time he found a single plant of another variety
that had grown in a non-competitive place, and had grown
to maturity without intervention. It was huge plant, and
Mr. Satpathy was so thrilled that he uprooted the whole
plant and sent it to an agriculture exhibition held at the
district Agriculture Office campus. Still, he did not think
of applying the same technique in rice cultivation that
he had applied in mustard cultivation, because, according
28
Pravash Chandra Satpathy (2001). My love affair with photo-period-sensitive varieties of rice. Odisame Atyadhik Dhan Utpadan- Saphal Kisano Ki Jubani [Rice
production in Orissa – Farmers success story]. November: 26-27.
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Towards a Learning Alliance: SRI in Orissa