Five new varieties to expand India’s paddy production
- 5 new Basmati varieties, developed at IARI in 2020 and 2021 will now bring revolutionary changes in the way paddy is cultivated in the country.
- 3 /5 varieties can resist two common diseases of paddy.
- Other 2 can save 35% water now required as seeds can be directly sown.
Paddy varieties
- 2 seeds varieties are resistant to herbicides too.
- 100% indigenous revolution using indigenous breeding programmes
- Help in increasing farmers’ income by:
- reducing the cost of cultivation
- improving production
- realising price of their labour and input cost
- Will reduce the use of pesticides and water.
Export in mind
- Basmati rice
- 7 major States — J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand
- Earmarked for Geographical Indication.
- Brings ~₹30,000 crore in foreign exchange every year.
- 75% export is to West Asian countries.
Advantages
- Will help in terms of addressing the problem of pesticides residue.
- Traditional way of paddy cultivation relied on transplanting the plants into a water-filled field midway through the cycle.
- Around 3,000 litres water is required for 1 kg of Basmati rice.
- Impacted the water table of States such as Punjab & Haryana.
- Water saving is 35% in DSR.
- Only 2,000 litres required for a kilogram of rice.
- GHG emission is reduced by 35% as water is not stagnating in this process.
- Labour cost of transplantation is also saved.
Issue
- Weeds
- Without the water acting as a herbicide, the DSR method allows for a lot of weeds to crop up in the field.
- So, a gene is resistant to a herbicide transferred to paddy.
- When farmers spray herbicide, weeds will be killed, not paddy.
Prelims Takeaway
- IARI
- GHGs