Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 13.13
Farming Practices for Rainfed Rice Grown in Different Zones of the Catena
in Eastern India
Uplands
Production
System
Unbunded
Bunded
Medium Land
Lowlands
Sowing
Broadcasting
(100-120
kg/ ha)
Broadcast/line
sowing (60-80
kg/ ha)
Broadcast/line
sowing and
transplanting
(random dibble)
Transplanting
(random dibble)
Fertilizers
FYM
FM + 50 kg
Diammonium
phosphate
FYM + 20-10-10
FYM + 36-16-16
Weeding
Hand weeding
*
Bueshening
after
4-5 weeks in
standing water
*
Bueshening
after
4-5 weeks in
standing water
Hand weeding or
use of tire harrow
Yield (t/ha)
0.4
0.7
0.9
1.7
Source:
Venkateswarlu, J., and K.P.R. Vittal, Case studies on adoption of production technologies in
rainfed rice, groundnut,
rabi
sorghum and pearlmillet, Module 3, ICAR/World Bank project,
CRIDA, Hyderabad, India, 1999.
*
Bueshening
is done in fields that are broadcast.
13.7 STRENGTHENING MODERN SCIENCE BY BUILDING
UPON TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Traditional knowledge has played a significant role in the development of modern
science and will continue to do so in the future. This can be seen in the development
of hypotheses, research designs, methods, and interpretations employed by scien-
tists, as shown by contemporary historians of science. To sustain crop production
and productivity per unit area, we need to build upon the foundations of traditional
knowledge by integrating with modern science. It is important to build upon the
traditional knowledge and avail of the benefits of modern innovations. It is not an
“either/or” scenario; modern science must synthesize the traditional knowledge and
build upon it. Overall, what we need ideally is a high-yielding, income-generating,
science-based, farmer-empowering, and eco-friendly agriculture system that pro-
vides nutritional and food security first to smallholder farmers and eventually to the
nation. In the northeastern Indian context, the short-term strategy for agriculture
development is best formed by strengthening the agroforestry component, using tra-
ditional technology, for building up soil fertility, which otherwise is built up through
natural processes of forest succession, where trees play a key role. Modern agricul-
tural technology, through external subsidies of fertilizer, has not been able to effec-
tively replace the traditional way of recovering soil fertility through forest regrowth
under shifting agriculture in the humid tropics. Activities related to food security
and nutrition can build on the development of underutilized, indigenous crops and
their processing, to better prepare for food emergencies.
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