Direct seeding of rice or the DSR method of rice cultivation has been in vogue for decades now. But, in recent years, it acquired more importance because of the falling underground water tables in major paddy-growing northern states like Punjab and Haryana, and uncertainties surrounding southwest monsoon.
The narrowing gap between paddy harvest and wheat sowing, which is blamed for being one of the prime reasons for stubble burning in North India, is also why the DSR method of rice cultivation has caught the imagination of policymakers and academicians alike. As some studies show, rice grown through this
