SBI Krishi Darshan and other CSR activities flagged off at ICAR-IIRR

The project aims to promote Direct Seeded Rice practice for sustainable rice production and improve farmers’ income in Khammam and Nalgonda districts

Hyderabad: The SBI Foundation has launched its CSR project on promotion of Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) for sustainable rice production at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research (ICAR-IIRR) here on Monday. The foundation Managing Director, Sanjay Prakash, launched the project formally.

The project aims to promote DSR practice for sustainable rice production and improve farmers’ income in Khammam and Nalgonda districts. Two vehicles, ‘SBI Kisan Sarathi’ and ‘SBI Krishi Darshan’, were also flagged off to support DSR training activities.

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While Kisan Sarathi provides free transportation for farmers to attend trainings at ICAR-IIRR and KVKs, the ‘Krishi Darshan’ is a mobile awareness campaign vehicle equipped with audio-visual aids and a dedicated trainer conducting village-level training sessions and offering soil testing kit support.

Also, under the project, a rainout shelter with automated weather sensors has been set up and inaugurated for training & research on Direct Seeded Rice production at the ICAR-IIRR Hyderabad campus. This rainout shelter was inaugurated to initiate DSR-related research on agronomy, pathology, soil science, etc.

The project also provides field-level support to 500 farmers, covering seed support, pest management, and IoT-enabled Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) sensors in fields for real-time monitoring of crops. Around 10,000 farmers will receive training in villages and campus settings, promoting large-scale adoption of DSR and thereby increasing farmers’ income while ensuring environmental sustainability.

Speaking on the occasion, Sanjay Prakash said SBI Foundation was committed to promoting sustainable agricultural practices. ICAR-IIRR Director Dr RM Sundaram said the Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) technology had the potential to revolutionise rice production in Telangana.

Dr M Yakadri, Director Extension- PJTAU, Dr Shaikh N Meera, Director-ATARI, Dr R Mahender Kumar, Principal Scientist- Agronomy, Dr MBB Prasad Babu, Principal Scientist- Soil Science and various other stakeholders were present.