Last Friday, FSL India Training Centre- Kundapur established the first paddy cultivation field in its premises. A few days before, the land was prepared for our work on Friday.

First, we watered the soil in the land and after we made mud out of the soil. Afterwards, we started with the sowing of the paddy samplings.

We are working according the Madagascar Rice Irrigation method. Compared to the traditional method, this has some differences which we are explaining below:

-For example, the paddy field does not get flooded continuously, which helps us to increase the water conservation. In this case, the field gets daily around two inches of water all over the field.

-Due to this lower quantity of water, the paddy plants sprout deeper roots and longer plants. This is the reason why we plant single paddy samplings and with 1 feet distance between them. Otherwise, plants would fight for water and minerals.

-Also, due to the lower amount of water it receives, the grain will be quite heavier too. Along with this, the need of fertilizer will be less.

These are actually the reasons why we decided to implement this model of paddy cultivation in Training Centre. The nearly-zero environmental impact due to the little amount of water and fertilizer required match our objectives of sustainability and that is why this model is part of our SAP-K project. Despite of this, we actually have one disadvantage and it is the requirement of more-often weeding than the traditional way of growing rice.

 It was for us, volunteers, the first time doing paddy plantation so we were highly interested in the work in the field. Also it was very interesting for us because we don’t have paddy plantation in Europe.