Govt advises farmers on non-basmati varieties

Punjab agriculture department has advised the farmers to go for cultivation of PR-128 & PR-129 varieties of non-basmati (parmal) due to unique features of early maturity, being less water intensive and for better paddy straw management without resorting to burning

On the recommendations of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), the Punjab agriculture department has advised the farmers to go for cultivation of PR-128 & PR-129 varieties of non-basmati (parmal) due to unique features of early maturity, being less water intensive and for better paddy straw management without resorting to burning.

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In a statement, financial commissioner, development, Viswajeet Khanna said that both these new varieties have already got approval from representatives of the milling industry, a vital pre-requisite for release of a rice variety to the farmers of the state.

Khanna said that milling trials were extensively conducted in 2019 and 2020. “Both these latest varieties are expected to replace long duration, higher water requiring varieties of rice cultivated by some farmers in districts of Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur, Barnala, Moga and Ludhiana. Several adaptive trials have been conducted in these districts and have indicated very good prospects,” he added.

He also mentioned that these advanced varieties meet the total rice recovery (out-turn ratio) of raw rice fixed at 67% under the ‘Custom Milling Policy’ fixed by the Government of India and have acceptable levels comparable to other varieties for various quality parameters.