PANAJI
The Agriculture Department is betting heavily on ‘High Yielding Varieties’ (HYV) of paddy seeds to fuel a jump in the State’s annual paddy output and is currently experimenting with the ‘Ratnagiri 7’, the latest entrant among a number of peers in the HYV paddy seeds category.
The ‘Ratnagiri 7’ variety has been sown in the current Kharif season on a 2-hectare patch of fields at the department’s farm in Margao near the Rajendra Prasad stadium, and officials will be keenly evaluating the results once harvesting operations are complete.
“Depending on the results, we will take a decision on whether to distribute experimental kits with 2 kilograms of ‘Ratnagiri-7’ seeds to a select group of farmers in the upcoming Rabi season,” Deputy Director (Crops) Bhakle said.
Bhakle added that once this select group of farmers sows the variety and mills the paddy, their experience vis-à-vis the cultivation as well as milling and how it matches the preferences of Goans’ palates will be factors taken into account in the decision-making on whether this variety will be introduced on a larger scale across Goa.
Meanwhile, between the Rabi season last year (2023-24) and the Kharif season this year (2024), farmers have lifted an encouraging 450 tonnes of HYV paddy seeds for sowing, collectively translating into a coverage of nearly 9,000 hectares across the State.
It roughly accounts for about 30 per cent of the total area under paddy cultivation annually in the State (both Kharif and Rabi seasons).
The research cell of the department estimates that in 2023-24, the average yield of paddy in the State was roughly 4,335 kilos per hectare in the Kharif season and a marginally higher 4,474 kilograms per hectare in the Rabi season.
After milling the paddy, the end product (rice) output was pegged at 2,886 kilos per hectare in the Kharif season and 2,983 kilos per hectare in the Rabi season.
Thus far, there are five variants of the ‘Goa Dhan’ paddy seed in circulation among farmers on a mass scale through various accredited societies like Goa Bagyatdar, Krushi Bazaar in Mapusa, a society in Pernem, and a handful more in other regions of the State from whom the farmers pick up the seeds, in addition to the zonal agriculture offices.
Should the experiment with Ratnagiri-7 at the Margao farm meet the expectations of the team of top officials led by Director Sandeep Fol Desai, this new variety could soon help fuel Goa’s projected leap in producing a much higher quantum of paddy and rice annually than the current 1.42 lakh tonnes (paddy) and 94,600 tonnes (rice) in the next couple of years or so.
