This year, the Agriculture Department had set a target of 22,800 acres for the paddy to be sown with DSR technique in Jalandhar, but farmers have outrightly rejected the technique as merely 432 acres have been covered under the technique.

Last year, the area under the technique was 1,274 acres in Jalandhar. Incentives by the government have failed to attract the farmers. The technique was pushed by the government to arrest groundwater depletion and Rs 1,500 per acre incentive was also announced by CM Bhagwant Mann.

An official from the department said such a poor response was shocking as several camps were also held to motivate farmers to adopt the technique.

The Tribune talked to various farmers and most of them said it was not feasible as when paddy was sown using this technique, the problem of ‘weeds’ troubled them a lot.