STAFF CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH: Krishi Vigyan Dibrugarh organized a field day on cultivation of Ranjit Sub-1 at No.3 Charaihabi village under Khowang development block.
While addressing the gathering of participant farmers, the head of the Kendra, Dr HK Bhattacharyya elaborated the benefits of rice-based cropping system for the continuous farm income and took the feedback of Ranjit sub-1 which has the record of giving desired good result in terms of higher productivity under a typical condition of food because it can tolerate water submergence up to 15 days. He urged intensive cultivation of suitable vegetable crops after rice crop for better income.
Interacting with this correspondent, Hemchandra Saikia, an expert in Agricultural Economics, said that KVK Dibrugarh was constantly working for the betterment of the farming community of the district. As a part of its mandated activities, KVK Dibrugarh identified this flood-affected marginalized No.3 Charaihabi village of the district which is affected by flood 3-4 times a year. Under such a situation, other varieties of rice failed to perform well. So KVK Dibrugarh identified this area for effective intervention of suitable improved agricultural technologies for the greater interest of uplifting this marginalized farming community through adoption of improved suitable crop varieties in due space and time. As a part of this effort, KVK distributed Ranjit sub-1 rice variety developed by Assam Agriculture University which can tolerate submergence flood water up to 15 days and can yield 6-7 ton/ha.
This variety was affected by flood three times after transplanting and even after this, the Ranjit sub-1 variety was able to give the desired result. The present intervention of Ranjit Sub-1 in No. Charaihabi was very encouraging. The crop cutting experiment conducted on the crop field showed that average productivity of Ranjit sub-1 ranges from 15 mand to 26 mand per bigha (4500-8000kg/ha) against the productivity of 6 mand per bigha of their local rice variety. Thus, Ranjit sub-1 is a ray of hope for the flood-affected farmers of the locality. This proved that Ranjit sub-1 developed by AAU and popularized by KVK is a very effective and sustainable intervention for the farmers of flood-affected areas in order to sustain their farm income and also to maintain a better standard of living.
Moreover, KVK Dibrugarh also undertook some suitable intervention like potato-pumpkin inter-crop intervention last year, including growing of Rapeseed crop in the locality which also performed well and was able to supplement farm income to an appreciable manner. This time also the Kendra is planning to encourage large areas of potato cultivation with organic mode of cultivation to augment the farmers' income continuously. Moreover, KVK is working on organic mode of cultivation in the area so that this particular area can be declared as organic hub.
The whole programme is being looked after by several scientists of the Kendra under the leadership of Hemchandra Saikia and Chaynika Thakuria, along with active and timely guidance of Dr Hiranya Kumar Bhattacharyya, head of this Kendra.