The irrigation minister of Punjab has reached out to an innovative farmer from Maharashtra, who may have solution for the rice stubble burning and the depleting ground water levels in the state. Chandrashekhar Bhadsavle from Neral in Mumbai has developed a direct sowing technique called Saguna Rice Technology (SRT), which eliminates need of tillage and stubble burning in rice and other crops.
As the soil of the farms sown using SRT technique remains solf and porous, Bhadsavle said that it helps in increasing the groundwater level with more seepage. "The production of farmers not only doubles, but has been found to increase beyond four fold by using this technology. During the recent floods in Maharashtra and during the droughts too, this technique was found to yield better results," he said.
The only problem in use of this technique in Punjab and Haryana is availability of suitable mechanical harvesting machine. However, Bhadsavle is confident about making such machine available soon as he has been invited for a special talk by the Global Farmer Network next month. "We just need some help to give final shape to this machine," he said.
This news has not been edited by Apni Kheti staff but has been published by various news feeds
Source: The Economic Times