Sign In
Learn bits
Geography
Mahesh

18/10/24 11:33 AM IST

Paddy variety PR-126

In News
  • Eight years after it was introduced in 2016, the widely cultivated short-duration paddy variety PR-126 finds itself at the centre of controversy in Punjab.
PR-126
  • Paddy is an extremely water-intensive crop.
  • Despite Punjab facing a severe groundwater crisis, the state has seen a record-high area under paddy cultivation (roughly 32 lakh hectares) in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
  • In this context, shifting to paddy varieties which can be grown in a shorter duration likely offers the best solution for the water crisis.
  • This is where PR-126 comes in.
  • Introduced by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in 2016, the variety became popular among farmers for its shorter growth period, high yield, minimal pesticide requirements, and excellent OTR. It offers an average yield of over 30 quintals per acre.
  • In 2023, PR-126 was cultivated on an area of approximately 8.59 lakh hectares, accounting for almost 33% of the area cultivated with non-Basmati paddy in Punjab.
  • This number is expected to increase to 44% this year.
Source- Indian Express

More Related Current Affairs View All

31 Jan

Controlled cannabis cultivation

'Recently, the  Himachal Pradesh Cabinet approved a pilot study by two universities on the controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal and industrial purposes.' The

Read More

30 Jan

Isro’s 100th launch

'With the first launch of 2025, the Indian Space Research Organisation achieved the significant milestone of having carried out 100 launches.' The GSLV-F15 put in orbit the navi

Read More

29 Jan

Classifying denotified tribes

'The Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) and Tribal Research Institutes (TRI) across the country have for the first time comprehensively categorised 268 denotified, semi-nomadic

Read More

India’s First Ai-Driven Magazine Generator

Generate Your Custom Current Affairs Magazine using our AI in just 3 steps