CHHATTISHGARH: RICE BOWL OF CENTRAL INDIA

Dr. Swami Nath Gupta

Chhattisgarh, one of the largest paddy producer state in India, has ideal weather conditions and soil for growing paddy. Central plains of Chhattisgarh is known as Rice Bowl of Central India. With an average annual rainfall of around 1,207 mm, the total cultivated area (all crops) of the state is 47.75 lakh hectares, which is 34 percent of the state’s total geographical area. Rice is grown on 68.8 percent (32.85 lakh hectares in kharif and in addition to this, approx 5 lakh hectares is sown as summer paddy during December to May) of the total agricultural land in the state.

At present around 14.76 lakh ha. area is the net irrigated area of the state which is about 32% of the net sown area.

Different methods of Paddy Sowing Practices in Chhattisgarh (Some sowing practices are exclusively done in Chhattisgarh)

1. KHURRA BONI:

• Khurra Boni (Dry Seed Sowing in dry land): In This method of cultivation, after ploughing the field in dry condition paddy seeds are sown through broadcast and a native pata is run to cover the seeds in the field. After rainfall the seeds grow.
• Khurra Boni (Dry Seed Sowing in wet land): When a spell of rain fall received in field this method has followed, after ploughing the field in wet condition paddy seeds are sown through broadcast and a native pata is run to cover the seeds in the field.

 

2. LAI CHOPI:

• Lai chopi (Wet seed sowing in wet land): In this method, paddy seeds are soaked in water for overnight and sown through broadcast in well prepared field having 2-3 cm standing water.
• Lai chopi (Wet seed germinated sown in standing water): In this method, paddy seeds are soaked in water for overnight, after removing excess water from seeds, it were kept in Jute bag in humid condition for 2-3 days to germinate the paddy seed and sown through broadcast in well prepared field having 2-3 cm standing water. This type of sowing normally followed in Rabi paddy (Summer paddy).

3. ROPA (Transplanting):

This is well known paddy sown practice in all over India. In this method, nursery is prepared in about 1/10 of the total area under paddy transplantation and after 20 to 30 days paddy seedlings are transplanted in the fields.