As the field of Punjab prepare for another season of rice cultivation, water management becomes very crucial for this water-intensive crop.  Effective water management not only ensures better yields but also conserves water and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Due to continuous depletion of underground water, farmers should be encouraged to use smart methods such as direct seeding and alternate drying and wetting. These practices may help in growing healthy rice plants using less water and make farming more sustainable.

Keeping this in view, PAMETI organized a training programme on “Water Management in Paddy Cultivation” for the benefit of farmers from 6-8 May, 2025. In this training programme, total 28 farmers from Ludhiana district participated. Dr. KB Singh, Director, PAMETI, while inaugurating the training programme, highlighted that groundwater in our state is being used at faster speed than it is recharged and misuse of water during paddy cultivation is one of the major cause. He added that there is need to protect this water for future generations, which is possible with proper water management practices.

In line of this, various experts interacted with farmers to discuss different methods of paddy cultivation along with pros-cons of those methods, practices for water saving, short-duration varieties of paddy, judicious use of ground and surface water, optimum plot size for water saving and alternate drying and wetting method. Direct seeding of rice was practically discussed in detail due to its ability to save water, reduce labour cost and early maturity. Experts also demonstrated the working of machinery for paddy cultivation like paddy transplanter, laser land laveller and lucky seed drill. The discussions focused on capacity building of farmers to adopt these techniques and reduce over-dependence on groundwater.