Seed bank to conserve and promote traditional seed varieties

Thiruvananthapuram: A seed bank of international standards to conserve and promote traditional seed varieties will be set up in the State, Minister for Agriculture V. S. Sunil Kumar informed the Assembly on Tuesday. 

Sale of such seed varieties will be promoted through Agro bazaars too. In this regard a program of ‘seed to market’ would be promoted to support farmers, the Minister said.

Kerala Agricultural University has agreed to supply adequate planting materials for decentralised distribution across the State. A master plan would be prepared for making use of the land remaining unused in farms of Agriculture Department.

Organic Farming
The Minister announced that organic farming would be extended to 5000 acres in the State.

Responding to a question from M. Mukesh (CPI-M), Mr. Sunil Kumar said that Government also intended to take up organic farming in 1000 hectares under PKVY project. Besides, another 1000 acres would be covered under the schemes of Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council.

The government would construct 2920 bio manure production units within farms under its organic farming project this financial year.

The Government, he said, intends to increase paddy cultivation to three lakh hectares in the next five years.  A permanent paddy development scheme, financial aid to developmental agencies, promotion of special seed varieties, funding to paddy development societies, paddy production bonus and free electricity are among the schemes proposed to be taken up this financial year.

A data bank covering all paddy fields and water bodies will be completed by the end of August this year.  Measures will be taken to ensure that lands earmarked for cultivation will not be used for other purposes, the Minister said.