Retired agriculture officer promotes cost-effective paddy sowing in Udalguri

A CORRESPONDENT

DHEKIAJULI: In a significant move to promote low-cost paddy farming in Assam, retired Agriculture Sub-Divisional Officer Uddhab Chandra Deka of Orang mouza introduced the innovative “Drum Paddy Seeder” technique at his field in Samuagaon under Udalguri district. The initiative aims to demonstrate a more efficient and profitable method of paddy cultivation while reducing expenses and conserving water.

Traditionally, cultivating one bigha (approximately 0.33 acre) of paddy land involves a substantial expenditure of nearly Rs 2,800. This includes costs for land preparation, seed sowing, seedling transplantation, plant protection, and post-harvest labour such as uprooting and transporting seedlings. Due to these high input costs, many farmers struggle to earn significant profits.

To address this issue, Deka introduced the use of the Drum Paddy Seeder, a tool that allows direct sowing of germinated paddy seeds in rows, eliminating the need for traditional seedling transplantation. This not only reduces farming costs but also conserves water by avoiding the need for standing water during land preparation.

On Monday, Deka explained the new method to this correspondent in his agricultural field in detail. He shared that high-quality paddy seeds were soaked for 24 hours and then germinated for another 24 to 36 hours. Around 5 kg of these pre-germinated seeds are then evenly filled into four seed drums. The Drum Seeder, which simultaneously sows seeds in eight rows, is then manually dragged across the pre-levelled field. If the field contains excess water, it should be drained a few hours prior to sowing to maintain a slightly firm soil texture.

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