Enhancing paddy productivity through improved agricultural practices and water management-A case study of Kishanpur minor

The study area is a small minor called Kishanpur with total Culturable Command Area (CCA) of 268 ha. It suffers from drainage congestion leading to water logging (0–3 m bgl,) at the head reach while depletion of water table at the tail end (7–8 m bgl). The cropping intensity in the canal area of Kishanpur Minor before project intervention was only 108.49%¹. Only 64% of the culturable command was sown during Kharif where as only 48.7% of the culturable area was being cultivated during Rabi Season. As such the project decided to do intervention during Kharif by intensification of Paddy production through proper water and agri-input management in the command. To promote conjunctive use of water through improved agriculture packages of practices the paddy intensification activity was undertaken. In this direction four varieties of paddy were given namely Pro-agro 6444 (40.70 ha), Narendra-359 (32.75 ha), MPU-7029 (13.50 ha), and Sarju-52 (3.50 ha) in the minor. Among the marginal farmers given pro-agro-6444 the highest yield recorded was 83.30 qs/ha and achieved by three farmers having land holding 0.75 ha, 0.25 ha and 0.14 ha. Similarly the lowest yield record of the same variety was 67 qs/ha and achieved by five farmers 0.50 ha (2 farmers), 0.38 ha, 0.18 ha and 0.15 ha of land. The story for other variety is also nearly same. Hence it could be concluded that the with small intervention, agricultural intensification can be done and effective water management could lead to water conservation ensuring environmental sustainability.