Rice Farming In Konkan, Maharashtra By Krantiveer Shivaji Bhuimbar

Rice is one of the most popular staple food in India. It also forms a vastly popular food grain and plays a major role in satiating the appetites across the length and breadth of India. It constitutes a major role in the national foodgrain market. Rice cultivation covers 30% of land in India. Among the total land in India, 43 million hectares are available totally for agricultural production that is about 30%. In Maharashtra, on a land of about 14.77 lakh hectares, Kharif rice is grown while the Rabi rice is grown on 34,900 hectares of land. Out of this, 15,000 hectares of the land falls in the Konkan region of the state of Maharashtra. Wherever there is a controlled and regular water supply, rice can be grown easily and in plenty. Many varieties are grown in both the seasons.

Pre-Cultivation

Once the land is ready for the sowing of the seeds after the initial rounds of ploughing and tilling, manure needs to be applied. It a be in the form of any manure like the dung manure or the compost manure. After this water needs to be supplied and stored in the designated area. Ideal suited Mud Slime preparation is of the utmost preparation for the sowing of rice. The water and mud quantity preparation and proper ratio of these two major components will matter to the quality of the rice grown.

Sowing of the seeds

In the Rabi season, once the designated areas are ready with the mud slime, the sowing is done after 35 to 40 days. The saplings to be planted have to be about 12 to 15 cms and there must be about 5-6 leaves sprouted. This means that they are ready to be sowed or planted. Once they are ready to be removed, they need to be watered before about 2 days of removal. Depending upon the condition of the land, the placement of the sapling should be done in such a way that there is a distance of at least 15 x15 cms or 20 x 15 cms each. Shallow sowing method has to be followed for the planting. Maximum 2 – 3 saplings can be planted in one cluster.

Actual Cultivation and Water flow management

Once the planting is done, the first treatment should be done after 30 – 35 days. To reduce the problem of weeds, the medicines can be sprayed after about 4 days of planting. The water level has to be 2-5 cms. Before the sprouting of the grains, the water level should be up to 18 cms. After this, the water has to be drained out about 8-10 days before the plucking.

Cutting and removal

Plucking is done when the grains are ready at about 90%. The plants should be lush green at this moment. After this, they should be dried for about 2-4 days on Sun.

This is the general manner in which rice cultivation happens in the Konkan region of Maharashtra.

About Krantiveer Shivaji Bhuimbar

My name is Krantiveer Shivaji Bhuimbar, I am a member of Kolhapur Amateur Photographer’s Association. (1st official group of Western Maharashtra). I have started photography in 2016 and I was working as a Project Manager and utilized free time for photography. In 2019, I took photography as a full-time profession.

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