Nagamanagala taluk of Mandya district of Karnataka with 380 villages depends mainly on agriculture and the farmers are poor. This taluk depend mainly on rain, which is only 600-680 mm. Per year. The hard working farmers of this taluk grow paddy with the help of water from tanks and bore wells.
The Extension Education Unit Nagenhally and Hybrid Rice Scheme Mandya of U.A.S., Bangalore jointly conducted Front Line Demonstrations of KRH-2 hybrid rice in the farm of Mr. Govindappa of Kennahally village of this taluk. Influenced by the excellent performance of this hybrid he continued to grow this hybrid season after season. Till now he has harvested this hybrid during kharif 1999, Summer 2000 and kharif 2000. The success of this farmer is due to adoption of recommended package of practices including use of compost and biofertilizers. On an average, he has harvested 9.9 t/ha with KRH-2 hybrid. As compared to 6.7 t/ha of the best check variety Jaya of this region. He harvested the highest yield of 10.13 t/ha during summer 2000.

Hybrid Rice farmer in Uttar Pradesh gets "KRISHI GYANI UPADHI" Award
Thanks to the efforts of researchers, and the extension workers in Uttar Pradesh where their unstinted efforts are bearing fruits as hybrid rice cultivation is picking up in a big way. Frontline demonstrations conducted under the ICAR/UNDP project on Hybrid Rice have been helpful not only in creating awareness about the benefits of hybrid rice but also could motivate the farmers. One of the farmers Shri. Hari Nath Shukla of the village Gopalpur in Faizabad district cultivated Narendra Sankar Dhan-2 hybrid in one hectare farm and harvested a bumper crop of 11 tons/ha. In the state level rice productivity crop competition organized by the Uttar Pradesh State Agricultural Department, he was awarded a cash prize of Rs. 10,000/- and commendation certificate as "KRISHI GYANI UPADHI". Success of this kind in hybrid rice cultivation has motivated many neighbouring farmers and the chances of hybrid rice becoming popular in Uttar Pradesh are bright.

Sahyadri hybrid does well under direct seeding

Shri. Shamrao Maruti Jadhav a progressive farmer from Atit village in Satara district of Maharashtra State got first prize in state level crop competition for the highest rice production of "Sahyadri" rice hybrid. The hybrid is developed by Regional Agricultural Research Station, Karjat, Dist. Raigad. He used only 8 kg seed per acre, and adopted the direct seeding practice by dibbling 1 to 2 seeds per hill in a row, with a row to row and hill to hill distance of 22.5 cm and 15 cms respectively. He followed all practices recommended for hybrid rice cultivation and adopted need based plant protetion measures during crop growth period. Shri. Jadhav obtained an yield of 11.30 ton/ha. The length of panicle was 23.3 cm and number of filled grains were 190 per panicle. Shri. Jadhav was very much satisfied about hybrid rice technology and performance of 'Sahyadri". He kept the grains for his own consumption as he was happy with its cooking quality and sold the balance to his neighbours. The breeders from Regional Agril. Research Station, Karjat had visited his farm from time to time and provided the technical guidance. A beaming Mr. Jadhav hopes that hybrid rice would be of immense help for increasing the productivity and production of rice in the state of Maharashtra.

Mr. Jayaram shows the way for other rice farmers in Karnataka - a success story

Mr. Jayram living in tiny village of Malavalli in Mandya district of Karnataka, had never heard of hybrid rice till some one like Dr. K.C. Narasimaiah, Extension Leader from Regional Research Station, Mandya approached him in May 2001, with proposal to take up frontline demonstrations of KRH-2 hybrid. Though Mr. Jayram is a marginal farmer, but the ideal location of his field by the National Highway, prompted Dr. Narsimhaiah to select his field for demonstration. Mr. Jayram proved to be an ideal farmer, as he has meticulously followed all the instructions given to him for conducting the trial. He was very curious to know and learn new things. He was one among the 55 such farmers selected for conducting compact block frontline demonstrations in the districts of Mandya and Mysore in Karnataka state.

The hybrid KRH-2 was grown in an area of 1.0 ha. along with the check variety Mandya Vijaya, which was also grown in one ha. in Mr. Jayaram's field. At maturity, crop cutting competition was organized to accurately estimate the yield potential among the farmers who had taken compact block frontline demonstrations. Mr. Jayram obtained an yield of 12.16 tons/ha with the hybrid KRH-2, while the yield of check variety Mandya Vijaya was 9.89 t/ha. Thus there was an yield advantage of 2.27 t/ha by cultivation of hybrid. The produce of both hybrid as well as the check variety Mandya Vijaya was sold at the rate of Rs. 550/- per quintal (100 kgs). Thus giving a net profit of Rs. 12,485/- per hectare by cultivation of hybrid. The cost of hybrid seed for a hectare works out to Rs. 1500/- whereas in case of inbred line it will be around Rs. 500/-. Hence by cultivation of hybrid rice in one hectare Mr. Jayram obtained an additional income of Rs. 11,500/-. He wants to cultivate hybrid rice in 2.0 ha of land which he owns in next kharif 2002 season. Many other farmers in the village are also motivated to take up cultivation of hybrid KRH-2 during the next cropping season. Mr. Jayram's experience with hybrid rice cultivation has become a success story in Malavalli village in Mandya district of Karnataka, to be emulated by other rice farmers.

First super fine grained aromatic rice hybrid released for general cultivation - a significant achievement
Pusa RH-10, the first super fine grained aromatic rice hybrid has been released for general cultivation in Haryana, Delhi and Uttaranchal by the Central Variety Release Committee.

Pusa RH-10, gives 40% increased yield over the highest yielding basmati check variety Pusa Basmati-1 with comparable grain quality characteristics.

This hybrid has been developed after ten years of concerted efforts by Dr. F.U. Zaman and his team at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi.

There is a great potential for increased export of basmati rice by large scale cultivation of this hybrid. Efforts are underway now for production of required quantities of seed material of this hybrid.

Pure seed of parental lines made available to all the interested public and private sector seed companies

Availability of pure seed stock of parental lines of released public bred hybrids was one of the major constraints to large scale seed production and adoption of hybrid rice in the country.

To overcome this problem, special provision was made under the ICAR/UNDP project to purify the parental line seed by paired crossing method and multiply the same under isolation. This work was taken up meticulously by eight research network centers. Now the pure seed stock of parental lines of all the released hybrids is available for distribution to the interested public and private seed agencies. Agencies which have placed the indent, have already been supplied the desired quantity of seed material.