STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING WHEAT PRODUCTION IN WEST BENGAL

1. STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING WHEAT PRODUCTION IN WEST BENGAL BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY CAMPUS (November 18-19, 2011) PROF. GURUPADA SARKAR Director of Research BIDHAN CHANDRA KRISHI VISWA VIDYALAYA NADIA, WEST BENGAL

2. 22057’ L, 880 20’E; 9.75 m msl Hill Zone 3% UBKV Terai Zone 14% Old Alluvial Zone 20% New Alluvial Zone 22% BCKV Red and Laterite Zone 27% Coastal and saline Zone 14% AGROCLIMATIC ZONES OF WEST BENGAL

3. Wheat scenario of West Bengal • Wheat area : 3. 17 lakh ha (India 28.5 m ha) • Production : 8.42 lakh tonne (India 85.9 mt) • Productivity : 2658 kg (India 2900 kg/ha) • Wheat occupies food grain area of the state: 6.0 % • Contribution to state’s food grain production: 5.06 % • Contribution to national wheat production: below 1.0%

4. Wheat Production Scenario in West Bengal

5. West Bengal is not a major wheat producing state in India Its contribution to national wheat production is negligible, and to state’s food production is also not very significant Which requires attention from the planners and policy makers to increase the area and production of wheat for food and nutritional security of the state and the country as well.

6. The major constraints limiting the yield of wheat are: • Late sowing because of excessive soil moisture after rice harvest • Shorter wheat growing season because of short span of winter leading to incidence of high temperature during flowering and grain maturity • Low mechanization • Imbalanced nutrient use • Poor land leveling • Rain and storm during maturity, • Severe pest s(white ants, rats and birds) and diseases (especially foliar blight) infestation • Major irrigated areas of the state are occupied by vegetables, potato, rice and high value crops

7. WHEAT YIELD UNDER CHANGING CLIMATIC CONTION The above graph depicts an increasing temperature and simultaneously decreasing yield trends over the years from 1995 onwards.

8. Return from different crop during winter season

9. In West Bengal, the major wheat growing districts are: Murshidabad, Nadia, Malda, Uttar (North) Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Coochbehar and Birbhum. These districts contribute about 87% production from 88% wheat area in the State

10. The non-traditional wheat growing districts of the state can be covered under wheat crop are: Wheat area in Bankura, 24-Parganas (North), Burdwan, Dakshin (South) Dinajpur and Midnapur (West) districts of the state can be increased under wheat crop.

11. Climatic potential and district average yields and yield gaps in non-traditional districts of West Bengal

12. What can be done for introduction of wheat crop in the non-traditional areas of the state? Increasing awareness among the farmers regarding cultivation of grain crops in general and wheat in particular because of less requirement of irrigation water as compared to boro rice Availability of high yielding wheat varieties to be ensured for timely, late and rainfed cultivation Adoption of conservation agriculture can be helpful in addressing the delayed sowing of wheat Implements of conservation agriculture should be made available Salinity tolerant wheat cultivars should be introduced in the saline zone

13. Policy matters • Introduction of high yielding varieties with replacement of low potential and pest and disease susceptible varieties. • Increase of area under wheat with the reduction in boro(summer) rice area in the state • Encouragement for timely sowing for proper growth and increase productivity • Balanced use of plant nutrients along with the use of micro-nutrients as per soil test reports. Addition of organic matter to soil through green manuring and crop residue recycling, balanced fertilization, integrated nutrient management, diversification/intensification of rice-wheat system by including pulse crops are some of the possible remedial measures to improve soil productivity and hence, total factor productivity. Contd…..

14. Organizing large scale on farm trials and demonstrations on newly released varieties and RCTs to generate acquaintance and confidence amongst the farmers. • Organizing farmers training programmes to educate the farmers regarding newly released varieties and up to date knowledge of POPs • Production of quality seeds in university and state farms • Creation of infrastructural facilities for storage of quality seeds • Developing market facilities for disposal of wheat at a remunerative price.

15. SEED PRODUCTION PROGRAMME • The centre used to multiply (8-10 q) seeds of some important varieties of the region every year (e.g. PBW 343, HD 2733, K 0307) and hand over the seeds (as TL Seed) to the Directorate of Farms of the University to supply it to the wheat growers through KVKs. • Currently Mega Seed project of the university has taken up wheat seed production programme • In West Bengal wheat seed produced 92.74 and 89.20 t in 2007-08 and 2008-09, respectively

16. Research findings/Technologies developed

17. Performance of genotypes under Rainfed condition

19. PERFORMANCE OF WHEAT GENOTYPES UNDER IRRIGATED TIMELY SOWN CONDITION Range of yield : 34.0 to 36.5 q/ha

21. PERFORMANCE OF WHEAT GENOTYPES AT LATE AND VERY LATE SOWING UNDER IRRIGATED CONDITION HW 2045, DBW 14, PBW 343, HUW 234, NW 2036

22. Management of rice residues in rice-wheat system (2006-2009)

23. Grain yield of timely sown wheat genotypes (q ha-1) at different irrigation schedules I1 - at CRI (20-25 DAS) I2 - at CRI, Tillering (40-45 DAS) and Boot leaf stage (75-80DAS) I3 - at CRI, Tillering, Jointing (60-65 DAS), Boot leaf and Milk stages

25. Grain yield of wheat genotypes (q ha-1) under different dates of normal sowing

26. The extent of reduction in grain yield was 13.33 and 27.33 kg/ha/day for a delay of 15 and 30 days from 18th November sown crop • KRL 19, KRL 210, KRL 213 were found to be best salt tolerant high yielding wheat cultivars at Sundarbans • Closer spacing (17.5-20.0 cm) was found be better than previously followed 22.5 cm spacing in respect of grain yield • It was observed that 128 mm of water can be saved if wheat crop is irrigated with 2cm at 22 DAS, 4cm at 66 DAS and 4cm at 80 DAS as compared to irrigation at all stages (22, 46, 66 and 80 DAS) at 5 cm depth of water without sacrificing yield

29. Max. Temp. 27-320C and min temp. 18-220C favourable for the disease development

30. FRONT LINE DEMONSTRATION CONDUCTED

32. 35.27% 36.23% 35.26 % 36.23 % (18.96%) (7.16 %) FLDs (2007-08) 10.87% 14.29-14.94% FLDs (2009-10) FLDs (2010-11)

33. Future thrust for XII Plan • Development of short duration-cum-late heat tolerant wheat varieties to increase the area and production of wheat • Development of high yielding wheat varieties under rainfed/saline condition. • Quality improvement of wheat grain through breeding, agronomic manipulations and biofortification • Screening of the wheat germplasms against biotic and abiotic stresses

34. Future thrust for XII Plan- contd. • Develop integrated nutrient, weed and pest management practices for maximization of wheat yield under different agro-climatic situations of the state • Research is needed in improving the nutrient and water use efficiency of irrigated wheat • Fine tuning of RCTs for sustainability and higher productivity of rice-wheat and wheat-based cropping systems under different agro-climatic regions of West Bengal. • Development of leaf blight forewarning model for formulation of proper IPM strategy. Increase in area under wheat should be the main thrust

35. Thanks