The state agriculture department is planning measures to make the state ‘Seed Bowl’ of the country as wished by chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao.
As part of their initial measures, officials are planning to produce soyabean seed locally. Farmers will raise soyabean in around 2 lakh hectares in the state.
Currently, the seed is being imported from Madhya Pradesh, forcing the farmers to incur heavy expenditure. “We wanted to develop nuclear, breeder seed and foundation seed locally for the benefit of our farmers,” an official said. However, they said it would take around two to three years to develop the foundation seed.
It is also being planned to produce seeds of maize and mustard locally. Scientists have started efforts to produce the mustard seed in a research station.
“The aim of the seed bowl is to make the farmer self-sufficient. The surplus seed will be supplied to farmers in other states,” sources said. Telangana state is already contributing 30 to 40 per cent of the seed required in the country.
However, commercial crops would not be included in the seed bowl concept.
The BT variety dominates the cotton crop and it is monopolised by private companies. The government will accord priority to developing hybrid varieties of seeds.
Source: The New Indian Express