Haryana Government will promote direct sowing of paddy in the State as crop plantation through this method saves water and reduces cultivation cost. The State Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar on Monday said that the Haryana Agriculture Department will set up demonstration plants over an area of 32,000 acres to promote direct sowing of paddy during 2015-16.
He said that the farm scientists have advised the farmers to do direct sowing of paddy upto June 15 and through transplanting till July. The direct sowing of paddy reduces the cost of cultivation and also results in greater yields. Apart from this, it also saves 20 to 25 per cent of water and also lowers the electricity consumption by 20 to 30 per cent, said the Minister.
He said that adopting this method for paddy farming increases the production of next crop. The Agriculture Minister said that grant would be given to farmers by the Central Government and the State Government under National Agriculture Development Scheme (NADS) and National Food Security Mission (NFSM) to reduce the cost on cultivation of paddy and to save water.
He said that the Government would also provide inputs like manure, seeds, fertilizers etc amounting to Rs7500 per hectare to the farmers for setting up demonstration plants under NADS. These plants would be set up on 2,500 acres in district Yamunanagar, 4,000 acres each in Karnal and Kurukshetra, 7,500 acres in Kaithal, 2,500 acres in Sonepat, 1500 acres in Panipat, 2,500 acres in Jind, 1,500 acres each in Sirsa and Fatehabad and 2,500 acres area in Palwal.
Dhankar said that direct sowing of paddy would be done on 1,000 acres in Ambala, 400 acres in Jhajjar and 600 acres in district Rohtak under the NFSM. He said that farmers setting up demonstration plants under NFSM would also get inputs like manure, seeds, fertilizers etc amounting to Rs7,500 per hectare.