Odisha plans self-reliance in seed production

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury
Bhubaneswar, Aug 31:

The Odisha government has decided to make a proper seed rolling plan for the next 3-4 years to make Odisha self-reliant in paddy seed production with specific emphasis on production of flood and drought resistant paddy seeds in the state.

The Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production (DA & FP) has been asked to prepare the plan to make the state self reliant in paddy seed production.

The Seed Monitoring Unit of the DA & FP would review the progress on seed production (under 8.8 and 8.9 of 5 MSP) and find out the flood and drought/stress tolerant paddy varieties to be produced under the Seed Production Programme, said a senior official in the Agriculture department.

According to the 11th meeting of Crop Weather Watch Group Committee, the total crop coverage in the state this year is about 58,000 ha, which is more than the last year’s coverage. It was further revealed that the coverage under paddy, pulses and vegetables is alos higher than the last year, while the coverage of oilseeds, fibre crops and spices are at par with the last year’s coverage.

During the review of seed supply position, it was found that paddy seeds supply is about 15,000 quintals more than the last year.

It was also decided in the meeting that  corpus funds of Rs 60 crores are to be provided to OSSC, Rs 30 crore to OAIC and Rs 10 crore to OSCDC for arrangement of seeds and planting materials.

In order to ensure that adequate quantity of quality seeds and planting materials are made available to the farmers in time and also to increase seed replacement rates of various agricultural crops, it is envisaged to provide an interest free short term loan amounting to Rs 2500.00 lakh to Odisha State Seed Corporation (OSSC), official sources said.