Urge to promote improved varieties of non-Basmati rice

19-Aug-2024 01:23 PM

Hyderabad. A national level group of farmers - Bhartiya Farmer Network (BFN) has urged the Prime Minister to take necessary steps to promote the cultivation of such improved varieties of non-Basmati rice which have the ability to tolerate herbicides.

Appreciating the work and efforts done by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in the development of HT Basmati rice, the network has said that efforts should be made to extend its benefits to as many farmers as possible.

India is the largest exporter of rice in the world and the second largest producer. Here, both Basmati and non-Basmati varieties of rice are produced in huge quantities.

In this, the share of non-Basmati (normal) rice is very high and it is produced in all the states and union territories of the country.

It is exported in huge quantities from India to foreign countries. In a letter to the Prime Minister, BFN has said that although the country has made good progress in paddy-rice production during the recent decades, some challenges still remain on this front.

This includes weed control, which remains a major threat to the yield rate of paddy crop and the profit of farmers.

There is a need to encourage the development of such varieties of paddy that have the ability to protect themselves from weeds.

Since paddy crop requires the most water, wild weeds grow and spread rapidly in moist fields and absorb the fertility of the soil of the fields. It is necessary to protect the crop from this.

There is often a shortage of water for paddy crop and at the same time a large number of workers are required for its cultivation.

If new varieties of HT non-Basmati rice are developed and used, then these problems can be overcome to a large extent.

This will help in increasing the average yield rate and total yield of paddy and rice production will increase rapidly. Then the government will not need to ban the export of rice.