Intensive vegetable rice rotation

Sagolsem Sumanglal Singh, SMS (PBG), KVK, Thoubal
Contd from previous issue
His plan could be called a “super intensive multiple vegetable rice rotation.” A very interesting area in his endeavour is where he has successfully grown rice in a very innovative manner. In this process he mixed cropped the rice within the bhindi and French bean rows, by sowing the seed under direct seeded dry sown condition in May 2016, a very typical and successful endeavour indeed for this particular year in which the rice was produced by default under completely aerobic condition throughout the rice season.
In the earlier years too, this method of rice sowing was very successful while the neighbouring farmers failed to harvest rice successfully either in stagnant water after the rice plants were well established or drought conditions.
Results/Outcomes
Here is how he has managed to grow 8 crops in one year starting from March 2016 to February of the next year, 2017 very successfully and have earned a good income. Out of the eight crops grown in the sequence, only seven crops have been included in the evaluation for economics of the system, since one crop (pumpkin) in the system was harvested beyond the one year i.e., after February 2017.
The present story is aimed at showing the possibility of such a cropping sequence which he had already taken up earlier to show emphasis on the method he has adopted to grow rice with much less investment. He puts everything in the right place, right time and right sequence. The method of growing rice in this crop sequence can be considered very innovative one.
Cropping sequence in 0.5 ha – In March the field was ploughed thoroughly, plots of 6 ft. width was made on which stakes of bamboo was erected into the loose soil.
· Cucumber (var. Alamgir-380) and cabbage (var. Green Hero) was intercropped.
(To be contd)