Three Rice Field Days along with twelve Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) of three high yielding rice varieties namely, ‘MTU 1061, MTU 7029 and Mrunalini, demonstrated in 100 acres in three adopted villages namely, Haridamada, Jamujhari and Barapita of Khordha district area were conducted during May 26th November-10th December, 2024 in the presence of beneficiary as well as non-beneficiary farmers, scientists and project staffs under the Farmer FIRST Project. Average fresh grain yield of MTU-1061 – 6.70 t/ha, MTU-7029 – 6.13 t/ha; Mrunalini – 6.40 t/ha over local check, Pooja – 5.86 t/h and MTU-7029 (farmer saved seeds) – 5.35 t/h. The results revealed an average fresh grain yield advantage by 14.6%, reduction in cost of production by 12.7% and increase in water productivity by 13.8% over the farm saving seeds as local checks.
