Most farmers in the district have grown the Lalswarna variety of paddy for a long time, and as a result pest and disease attacks are increasing and yields are falling. Farmers also cannot start potatoes, mustard and other rabi crops on time, so those crops suffer more pest and disease attacks and cultivation costs rise. To tackle the problem, the Kalna subdivision agriculture farm says it has begun trials with 21 rice varieties.

At the farm, agriculture experts were seen growing many kinds of rice seed on about two bighas of land divided into numerous small plots.

The farm explains that the aim is to see what yields are like while keeping nutritional value. The agriculture department says the rice now grown loses nutritional value because the outer layer of the grain is removed. Seven varieties, including Pushpa, Kaushalya and BPT 5204, have good nutritional value and are being grown on trial. Agriculture officials say Pushpa and Kaushalya contain 96 per cent iron and BPT 5204 contains 19 per cent zinc. These three varieties are as high-yielding as Lalswarna, giving about five and a half tonnes a hectare.

Agriculture experts say Lalswarna takes 135–140 days to grow, whereas several other varieties such as Muktashri, Sukumar, Manisha, Bhupesh, Ajit and Purulia 1 can be harvested at least 20 days earlier. If farmers grow such short-duration paddy, they will be able to start the rabi season on time.

The agriculture department says a number of farmers have already grown Ajit under the Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India project and Muktashri in Manteswar. Various trials have begun on these short-duration varieties as well, and research is also under way at the Kalna farm on another variety called Ranidhan.

Agriculture officials say farmers have long had a soft spot for Lalswarna. Ranidhan looks like Lalswarna, but it is tolerant of sheath rot and yields well. Farmers have grown it on about a hundred bighas in the Kankuria panchayat area of the Kalna 1 block.

Subrata Ghosh, assistant agriculture officer (agricultural research) in Kalna, said: "Growing the same variety of paddy for many years causes various problems, and that is happening with Lalswarna too. Trials of different varieties are being run at the agriculture farm so that farmers can be given a range of rice varieties as alternatives."

Source: Anandabazar. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.