Ravichandran VK1*, Vibhu Nayar2, Prakash KC1
The increasing dependence on groundwater for growing staple food crops like paddy causes lowering of water table and serious depletion of groundwater storage in many parts of India including Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state. This study is based on field research conducted during the Kharif seasons in 2011-2013 in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, to evaluate the impact of TN-IAMWARM Project’s adoption of SRI on agronomic productivity and irrigation water use efficiency. The adoption of SRI method in paddy cultivation has resulted in increased by 20% in paddy yield and net income 44.50% over the conventional cultivation. This has been achieved with substantial reduction in irrigation water application (42.33%), labor input (17.46%) and seed cost (87.47%). The economic attractiveness of SRI cultivation is very high, giving farmers a strong incentive to accept water-saving techniques as a new norm for irrigated paddy production. Hence, the cultivation of Kharif paddy (which is a high water consuming crop) through SRI practices promises to be a significant alternative for not only increasing paddy productivity, but also for savings on irrigation water and energy costs in the resource-starved regions of India.
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