Technique of a farmer from Maharashtra may help Punjab solve its stubble burning problem

PUNE: 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.

Bhadsavle, who has done his Masters in Food Science and Technology from University of California, USA and is famous for his agro-tourism venture Saguna Baug, at Neral, had developed the SRT technology of rice cultivation in 2011. "In this method, we directly sow the rice seeds, unlike the traditional method, in which paddy saplings are transplanted in puddled fields. After harvesting the crop, we leave the stubble and the roots in the farm without uprooting it and immediately sow the next crop. Thus there is no need of removing or burning the stubble," said Bhadsavle.

Farmers have to use weedicides in this technique and Bhadsavle prescribes only Glysophase, which has recently come under criticism. "We have found that the earthworms, which are necessary for good soil health, do not get killed even after use of glysophase," he said.


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.