Author(s): G. MONDAL, M. GHOSH, D. MAZUMDAR AND A. BISWAS

Abstract: Tulaipanji, a popular aromatic rice landrace, is mostly cultivated in Uttar Dinajpur district as well as in some parts of Dakshin Dinajpur district of West Bengal, India for hundreds of years. In order to better understanding of the present status of Tulaipanji rice in North Dinajpur district, specially the crop environment, cultivation practices, grain yield, milling recovery, marketing network, socio-economic impact, etc., a base-line survey was conducted with 102 randomly selected Tulaipanji farmers in 4 blocks (viz. Raigaj, Kaliaganj, Hemtabad and Itahar) through personal interview using structured and pre-tested schedule during 2009. Among them, 25.5, 72.5 and 2.0% farmers belonged to general, O.B.C and S.C. category, respectively and the respondents had average land of 0.22 ha under Tulaipanji cultivation in each year. About 71.0% farmers used their own seeds and started their sowing operations during July with the preparation of wet seedbed(81.7%). They transplanted their seedlings during the month of August (73.6%) following random method of planting with average seedling age of 26.6 days. The chi-square test revealed that Tulaipanji growers obtained average grain yield of 2.33 t/ha, with a range between 2.04 t/ha (Itahar) and 2.57 t/ha (Kaliaganj). They had to travel about 7.9 km for milling of paddy and 87.2% of them sold their rice in nearby markets.

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