THE INITIATIVE

• Launching System of Rice Intensification (SRI) Programme

THE BENEFICIARIES

• Various tribes of Karimnagar district, Telangana

THE CHALLENGE

• Attachment to traditional method of paddy cultivation
• Unwillingness to adopt crop diversification, water conservation and new scientific cultivation practices

THE SOLUTION

• NABARD sanctioned a project under the Indo-German Watershed Development Programme
• Farmers were given SRI training which comprised seed treatment, nursery preparation, marking and transplantation
• Markers, weeders, good quality seeds, neem-based bio-pesticides and vermicompost were provided to farmers

THE IMPACT

• Increase in area covered under SRI from a mere 4acres to 307.5 acres over 4 years
• 142 farmers in the project district on SRI as against just 4 earlier