Authors: Sarvesh Shukla*, Anirban Nath*, Mosharaf Hossain*, Swati Nayak*, and Amaresh Chandel**
The challenges of rice farmers in Jharkhand
Jharkhand (“The land of the forest"), a state in eastern India, is home to many resource-poor tribal farmers. Rice is grown in 1.5 million hectares annually with a poor productivity of 2.4 tons per hectare. Depending on the topography, rice is grown in upland or medium-low land. Poor water holding capacity, rainfed system, sloping land, and acidic soils are the major characteristics of upland agricultural land. Merely 16% of the agricultural area has irrigation facilities in the wet season. Frequent drought and water shortages, more so in recent years due to the impact of climate change, adversely affect rice cultivation. Rice seeds in many districts are sown mainly by broadcast without precision in crop establishment and management practices. Consequently, these constraints prevent farmers from harvesting reasonable yields.
Scope and relevance of direct-seeded rice (DSR)
Given the scarcity of water and upland topography, dry direct seeding is a science-backed option to maximize yield. However, for the DSR system to succeed, farmers need good access to improved varieties, machines, crop management practices, and other crop advisories. Smallholder farmers lack knowledge about better varieties, provision of seed drills, and weed management advisories, according to a specialist at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Knowledge Network. DSR should be considered as an essential package for smallholder farmers to optimize their yields. However, DSR has not been picked up significantly despite its advantages and critical role in the future of rice cultivation in Jharkhand.
The ScaleDirect Initiative introduced new varieties, machine-driven DSR crop establishment, and better weed management practices to the farmers in Hazaribagh District. The initiative also partnered with the KVK in the community to mobilize a group of farmers for on-farm trials of different DSR-suitable crop varieties. Pre-sowing training on machine sowing, judicious weed management, and field preparation for farmers were organized. The initiative placed particular emphasis on the participation of women and empowered them to be DSR diffusers.
DSR flagbearer
The experience of Sangeeta Devi is an inspiring story and a testament to the potential of DSR to transform rice cultivation in Jharkhand. Mrs. Devi, aged 35, is a smallholder woman farmer who lives with her husband and two daughters in Lodhama, a village 10 km from the district headquarters in Ramgarh in Jharkhand. Mrs. Devi practices share-cropping on 2 hectares of land to support her family and cultivates crops on her 0.8 hectares plot. She is a member of the Adarsh Ajeevika Mahila Samooh, one of the 25 women self-help groups (WSHG) in her village. She has been working as a community agriculture care service provider for several years. Twelve female farmers from Lodhama are members of her SHG. Mrs. Devi collaborates with all 25 SHGs, providing information on the numerous benefits and schemes provisioned through the state government programs to female farmers, including subsidies for seeds, fertilizers, and equipment and support for crop insurance and market access.
About the Authors:
*International Rice Research Institute
**Bayer Crop Science Pvt Ltd.
About the Project:
ScaleDirect is a unique Public-Private Partnership engaging IRRI-Bayer, supported by USAID and implemented by IRRI and its NARES Partner networks in 6 countries; namely India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique