Engaging Women Farmers in Direct Seeded Rice System in Jharkhand

Authors: Sarvesh Shukla*, Anirban Nath*, Mosharaf Hossain*, Swati Nayak*, and Amaresh Chandel**

The challenges of rice farmers in Jharkhand

Jharkhand (“The land of the forest”), a state in eastern India, is home to many resource-poor tribal farmers. Rice is grown in 1.5 million hectares annually with a poor productivity of 2.4 tons per hectare. Depending on the topography, rice is grown in upland or medium-low land. Poor water holding capacity, rainfed system, sloping land, and acidic soils are the major characteristics of upland agricultural land. Merely 16% of the agricultural area has irrigation facilities in the wet season. Frequent drought and water shortages, more so in recent years due to the impact of climate change, adversely affect rice cultivation. Rice seeds in many districts are sown mainly by broadcast without precision in crop establishment and management practices. Consequently, these constraints prevent farmers from harvesting reasonable yields.

Scope and relevance of direct-seeded rice (DSR)

Given the scarcity of water and upland topography, dry direct seeding is a science-backed option to maximize yield. However, for the DSR system to succeed, farmers need good access to improved varieties, machines, crop management practices, and other crop advisories. Smallholder farmers lack knowledge about better varieties, provision of seed drills, and weed management advisories, according to a specialist at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Knowledge Network. DSR should be considered as an essential package for smallholder farmers to optimize their yields. However, DSR has not been picked up significantly despite its advantages and critical role in the future of rice cultivation in Jharkhand.

The ScaleDirect Initiative introduced new varieties, machine-driven DSR crop establishment, and better weed management practices to the farmers in Hazaribagh District. The initiative also partnered with the KVK in the community to mobilize a group of…