Seed Village Important For Competitive Exam

Seed Village

What is seed village?

A village, wherein trained group of fanners are involved in production ‘of seeds of various crops and cater to the needs of themselves, fellow fanners of the village and fanners of neighbouring villages in appropriate time and at affordable cost is called “a seed village”.

Concept

Organizing seed production in cluster (or) compact area
Replacing existing local varieties with new high yielding varieties.
Increasing the seed production
To meet the local demand, timely supply and reasonable cost
Self-sufficiency and self-reliance of the village
Increasing the seed replacement rate

Features

Seed is available at the door steps of farms at an appropriate time
Seed availability at affordable cost even lesser than market price
Increased confidence among the farmers about the quality because of known source of production
Producer and consumer are mutually benefited
Facilitates fast spread of new cultivars of different kinds

Establishment of seed villages

The present programme of seed village scheme is having two phases

I. Seed production of different crops

Seed village concept is to promote the quality seed production of foundation and certified seed classes. The area which is suitable for raising a particular crop will be selected, and raised with single variety of a kind.

Selection of area
The area with the following facilities will be selected.

1. Irrigation facilities

2. Suitability of climatic conditions to raise the crop for more than one season

3.Labour availability and Knowledge of local farmers on that particular crop

4. Occurrence or outbreak of pest and diseases

5. Past history of the area for suitability to raise seed crop

6. Average rainfall and distribution

7. Closeness to a urban area for easy movement of seed and other inputs

Seed Supply

Suitable area for seed production will be identified by the Scientists. The foundation/ certified seeds or University labeled seeds will be supplied by the University through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and Research Stations at 50% subsidy cost to the identified farmers in the area. The farmers will use these quality seeds and take up their own seed production in a small area (1 acre) for their own use. The crops are Rice, Pulses and Oilseeds.

Capacity building

In order to harness the synergy between technologies and the community participation, special emphasis is being given to build farmer’s capacity to produce quality seeds. A training on seed production and seed technology to the identified farmers for the seed crops grown in the seed villages will be given for technology empowerment of farmers.

Duration of the training: 3 days

First one day training: At the time of sowing Training on : Isolation distance, sowing practices, seed treatment, and other agronomic practices.

Second one day training : During flowering Training on: Identifying off types and removal, maintenance of seed plots, plant protection measures, maturity status and harvesting methods.

Third one day training: After harvest Training on: Seed cleaning, grading, seed treating, bagging and storage aspects, seed sampling and sending to seed testing laboratory for analysis.  A seed grower forum will be organized for further empowerment of technology and marketing. .

II. Establishing seed processing unit

Post-harvest seed handling is a vital component of the total technology in marketing available good quality seeds of improved varieties. If the seeds are not processed and handled properly, all the past efforts in production may be lost. Thus seed processing and packaging is very important aspect in seed production..! The location of seed processing centres is based on the available infrastructure and convenience. Such a place will be well connected with roads and transportation facilities. Each seed processing centre will have the following infrastructure.

Seed garden cum clearer
Bag closer, trolleys, scales and furniture
Building to house equipment
Seed storage structure
Seed threshing and drying yard
Information centre

The information centre will have internet facility to provide access to information on seed demand and market trends, agriculture market index, weather forecast, plant protection measures etc.,

Advantages of Seed Village Concept or Compact Area Approach

1. Solve the problem of isolation. Mainly in cross pollinated crops like maize, sunflower where it required more Isolation distance the problem will be solved by raising a single variety in a large area.

2. Mechanization is possible from sowing to harvesting

3. Post-harvest handling of seed is easy .

4. Because of a single variety, the problem of varietal admixture during processing, drying will be avoided

5. Seed certification official will cover large area per unit time

6. Totally it reduces the cost of cultivation

7. Seed will be with high genetic, physical purity

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