Economic Disparity in Direct Seeded vs. Transplanted Rice:

Rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the most important staple food crops in the world. The slogan "rice is life" is most appropriate for India as this crop plays vital role in our food security and is a means of livelihood for millions of rural household. Direct seeded rice (DSR) technology has not been widely adopted in India. DSR avoids to grow the seedling and transplanting, thus reducing the labour requirement for transplanting and nursery growing. It offers many savings, notably labour, water and maintenance of tractor, fuel cost and also the time factor. Generally, it seems that benefits will go to large farmers who rely heavily on labour. However, the small farmers have to face several constraints to adopt the DSR technology. In view of the above fact the house hold survey has been conducted to study the cost and return of DSR and TPR farm house hold. The survey was conducted during Kharif 2006 surrounding plain area of district Udham Singh Nagar by selecting 20 DSR and 20 TPR farm house hold. The result showed that the differences in cost of cultivation were Rs. 2597 per acre between TPR and DSR technology. However, in DSR the average yield was 17 and in TPR 20 quintal per acre. The benefit cost ratio was found 1.83 and 1.42 in DSR and TPR respectively.