IMPHAL, Nov 14(NNN): The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Lamphelpat is all set to distribute RC Maniphou-12 for pre-Kharif cultivation to sow in about 70 hectares of paddy fields in Manipur but the high- yielding rice seeds would be given to selective farmers only for seed multiplication purpose, a senior scientist at ICAR, Lamphelpat said Wednesday.
RC Maniphou-12 is one among the high-yielding anganphou, hybrid rice developed by ICAR, Lamphelpat in the past years. Like other varieties of hybrid rice, around 9 kg of seeds of RC Maniphou-12 is required in one lou pari (one hectare of paddy field), ICAR senior scientist I Meghachadra told Newmai News Network.
Such cost-effective sowing of rice is known as “System of Rice intensification (SRI),” he said. Under the SRI, seeds are sown sparsely to multiply enormous offspring of seeds. However, the mode of crop growing that has been practicing in the state is not the SRI method. This type of cultivation requires around 60 kg of rice seeds in one hectare of paddy field, therefore, the cost is high. Even so, SRI mode of production needs only 8-9 kg of rice seeds per one hectare of paddy field and yields about 5 ton of rice and simultaneously it is quite economical, he said.
ICAR, Lamphelpat has produced seven different varieties of hybrid rice in the state so far including the latest RC Maniphou-12. The six other varieties are RC Maniphou-4 (RCM-7), RC Maniphou-5 (RCM-8), RC Maniphou-6 (RCM-5), RCM Maniphou-7 (RCM-9), RC Maniphou-10 (Lungnilaphou) and RC Maniphou-11.
The council will provide the new RC Maniphou seeds to selected farmers to sow in 70 hectares of paddy fields for seed multiplication purpose. After that, the ICAR is planning to make it available across the state, senior scientist Meghachandra said. The council is expected to distribute the seeds to another 500 hectares of paddy fields during the main Kharif season, he further informed.
According to State Agriculture Department, Manipur has a total of 1.95 lakh hectares of crop land area but the record maintained by ICAR says the total cultivation area is about 10 lakh hectares.
There will be no problem of failure of crops in the main Kharif season if such high- yielding rice is cultivated in the pre-Kharif in the vast paddy fields, Meghachandra said.
The pre-Kharif period starts from January and ends in the month of May or June. Now, it is very much important to focus on pre-Kharif cultivation by developing proper irrigation systems in the state, the senior scientist suggested.