MY OBSERVATIONS AND ANALYSIS ON HIGHER YIELDS

HIGHER YIELDS IN VIZIANAGARAM DISTRICT of Andhra Pradesh
TIMELY SOWINGS ,APPLICATION OF OPTIMUM NITROGEN and
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL ENEMIES - the REASONS behind the success



RICE –NORMAL YIELD - 1848 kg/ha.
EXPECTED- 3700 kg/ha DURING KHARIF 2007 (REVISED)
( EARLIER EXPECTED IS 2992 Kgs)

The farmers of vizianagaram district are going to reap bumper harvests of paddy crop during kharif 2007. Thanks to natural enemies, who played a major role.

During kharif 2007, the seasonal conditions are very favorable for crop production. Higher yields expected in all the crops.

PESTICIDE CONSUMPTION REDUCED BY 75%.
· Pesticide consumption during current year up to October, 2007 is only 4.01 M.Ts. of Tech.Grade while the consumption during last year, up to October, 2006 is 16.0 M.Ts of Tech.Grade.
· Campaigns against pesticides by various agencies worked.

Paddy-Subsistence cultivation:
Paddy crop is cultivated in 1, 17,724 Ha., during kharif season . Majority of the area(70%) is under small rain fed tanks. These tanks need to be filled at least thrice by southwest monsoon rains, during the season to cater the needs of the paddy crop. In general, per Acre yield of paddy crop ranges between 1100 to 3712 kgs in various farming situations with a normal of 1848 kgs per hectare in the district ( All figures are in terms of Rice.)
Problems of paddy cultivation:
Small and scattered holdings, cultivation under small tanks, lack of supplemental irrigation facilities, erratic rain fall, late onset of monsoon, prolonged dry spells, and light textured soils low in organic carbon and nutrient contents, economically backwardness, poses serious problems on the productivity front, by which the paddy cultivation often lands into troubles.
Rain fed cultivation often leads to delayed sowings with over aged nurseries due to which application of excess ‘N’ by distressed farmers is a common phenomenon observed in the area. This situation causes severe pest problems, leading to indiscriminate use of pesticides, like Monocrotophos,Chlorpyrephos and Methyl parathion dust and some NEW GENERATION PESTICIDES and raise in cost of cultivation.
Ultimately low productivity of crops and low net returns, making farming community resource poor year after year, have become a characteristic feature of this North coastal district.

What happened in 2007?
Timely summer showers helped in good land preparation and sowings of Gingelly crop were taken up during May.
How ever, Sesamum crop failed due to heavy rains and water logging conditions during June 07. This helped in adding up of considerable quantities of organic matter and no depletion of soil nutrients took place. Farmers generally apply Farm yard manure to sesamum crop only which precedes paddy in early kharif and do not apply FYM to paddy.
Rains during June were so heavy that they helped in complete recharging of irrigation tanks on which the paddy cultivation predominantly takes place in the district.
Timely nursery sowings took place and transplantations in maximum area completed with early nursery. This has given ample time for the crop to put forth tillers. Further, during July and August months dry spells prevailed and deficit rain fall recorded in the district which led only to prevailing of I.D.condition in paddy fields resulting in heavy tillering.
Normally the tillers vary between 15-22 in which productive tillers are 11-12 in all paddy farming situations of the district. How ever in the current year the No. of tillers varied between 25-28 and the productive tiller percentage also increased. On an average each Paddy hill contained 20-22 productive tillers which is very interesting to note.
Early sowings, good No. of sunshine hours during July- Oct period, development of beneficial insects to control the pest complex and good growth might have helped for this.

OPTIMUM ‘N’ AND SOIL ORGANIC CARBON CONTENT PLAYED IMPORTANT ROLE:

Farmers applied first dose of UREA fertilizer (some DAP) during 2nd and 3rd weeks of July’07 and second dose in August month. Later there was no chance to apply 3rd dose due to continuous heavy rains during September and as the crop attained P.I stage, no fertilizer application was taken place in October. As a result of this, reduction of urea application was also taken place.
(How ever as the soil organic carbon content was maintained at higher levels due to incorporation of sesamum crop and no loss of nutrients occurred due to failure of sesamum crop, non application of 3rd dose of urea couldn’t show much difference on crop growth.) As the crop growth is satisfactory, farmers have not resorted to application of urea for the 3rd time.
This condition has led only to optimum plant growth and production of more no. of tillers and more over the leaf folder pest which develops mainly at places where urea application is high could not find its entry in the fields.

NATURAL ECOLOGICAL BALANCE MAINTAINED:

Though BPH and Jassid infestation started during early September, it only helped in availability of sufficient food for their natural enemies and never crossed economic injury levels due to which beneficial insects developed in sufficient numbers in paddy fields. The pests which occurred in epidemic level during 2005 (i.e. Leaf folder) and 2006 (BPH and Jassids) could not find their place during current year. Owing to the low nitrogen (say optimum) levels in the fields no pest has attained dangerous levels.
For example, the populations of Mirid bug, a natural enemy of BPH, have never been observed in previous years at these levels at light traps and street lights near the fields. Only Jassids and BPH were seen along with 1-2% Mirid bugs then.
(In fact I had to wait days together to catch a miridbug’s image in my camera last year. But during current year hundreds and even thousands of them are found at lights during night time.)
It is a fact that more than 75% of the farmers have not sprayed pesticides in the district, which resulted in non elimination of beneficial insects from the fields and their populations increased enormously which could easily suppress pest populations.
All these conditions have helped in rising of paddy yields by more than 100%. Now the farmers are very happy as they got higher yields with reduced cost of cultivations. Now a time has come to analyze this situation and learn from our own experiences. Farmers must realize that excess application of Nitrogenous fertilizers (Especially UREA) is the root cause of many pest problems and pesticides are not a solution for managing pests.

G.V.VIJAYA KUMAR,M.Sc(Ag)
Agricultural Officer,
Office of the Joint Director of Agriculture, Vizianagaram
PIN-535003