IMPACT OF IMPROVED SALT TOLERANT RICE VARIETIES ON FARMERS’ ECONOMY UNDER COASTAL SALT AFFECTED AREAS OF SUNDARBANS

Abstract

Rice in both kharif and rabi seasons is the main crop and will continue to be most dominant crop in the coastal areas of Sunderbans, West Bengal. Scope for expansion of area under rice was limited, particularly in kharif season because maximum area was already brought under cultivation and restricted in rabi due to limited availability of good quality irrigation water. Viewing this constraint, ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) has developed many rice varieties suitable for salt affected areas for coastal areas. Rice variety impact on farmers’ economy have been assessed, based on primary survey data, through gains in terms of profitability, change in unit cost of production, whether fetch better price in open market and incremental yield over existing rice varieties. Also different motivation factors to adopt new varieties and constraints in large scale adoption have been analysed. The information has been collected from two sets of sample farmers, one, where CSSRI has conducted some rice variety trials (60 farmers) and second, where there was no direct presence of CSSRI (60 farmers). Among the farmers’ who purchased different rice variety seeds from CSSRI RRS Canning, around 23 % were amalmana that accounted for 21% of total rice area allocation in their farms. During subsequent year nearly 43% farmers have grown amalmana that accounted for 31% area their rice area and have obtained 34% incremental yield and 22% incremental net return. Major rice varieties other than amalmana were pankaj, patnai, prateeksha and dudhewshar in kharif season and lalminikit (WGL-20471)&sada-minikit (IET-4786) during rabi season. In case of rice farmers where CSSRI had no direct linkage in terms of conducting variety trials, major rice varieties were, patnai, pankaj, prateeksha, dudheshwar, gobindhobhog, CR1017, CR1044 during kharif season andlal-minikit &sada-minikit during rabi season. This implied that farmers have limited choice of rice varieties during rabi season and therefore, varietal preference is skewed to only few varieties. Amalmana rice variety was gaining popularity among the farmers in the region and it was estimated to provide 35-40 percent higher yield as compared to the existing farmers’ varieties such as geetanjali, dudheshwar, sabita etc. in kharif season. Farmers’ are willing to adopt CSSRI varieties and it needed to make available in the seed market chain or through government agencies.