The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), held a two-day training of trainers on zero-tillage wheat and crop residue management at its South Asia Regional Centre in Varanasi, India, on 8 and 9 October. The 63 participants were farmers, farm machinery service providers and extension workers from districts across eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Rice-wheat farming in the region faces falling productivity, late wheat sowing, rising labour and input costs and the problem of what to do with rice straw. Sowing wheat directly into the rice stubble without ploughing, combined with residue management, cuts tillage, makes better use of soil moisture and offers an alternative to burning the straw, the organisers said.
The first day covered agronomy, residue management, machinery economics and gender-inclusive mechanisation, with practice on zero-till seed drills. On the second day participants saw the Happy Seeder, Smart Seeder, balers, compost turners and other machines at work and learned about operation, maintenance and running machinery services as a business.
Dr R K Malik, a senior consultant at IRRI, advised sowing wheat before 20 November to limit heat stress, and encouraged farmers to adopt direct-seeded rice followed by zero-tillage wheat to cope with labour shortages. He urged each trained farmer to train at least 10 others. Dr Raghavendra Singh of ICAR-ATARI Kanpur, the chief guest, said direct-seeded rice fields had in some cases stood up better during recent hailstorms and cyclones. CIMMYT's Dr S P Poonia called for small, need-based machines suited to farmers.
The training was run under the CGIAR Scaling for Impact initiative, led by IRRI senior scientist Dr Vikram Patil, and complements the UP-AGREES project. The same rice-wheat system and the same straw-burning problem are found across the Indo-Gangetic plain, including northern Bangladesh.
Source: IRRI
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