Community Seed Management

The absence of a sustained supply of paddy and wheat seeds is one of the major constraints faced by the local farmers. There is no network available in the region to procure quality seed on genuine prices from the seed depot/seed sale counter of state department of agriculture, authorized seed dealers of state seeds corporation, national seeds cooperation or sale counters of state agricultural universities. The village network and local shop owners are the only source for seed procurement. As mostly home based storage methods are practiced, in the absence of an appropriate knowledge of seed management, many a time the seeds become useless thus creating an extra financial burden on the farmers. In order to maintain the uninterrupted supply of local seeds, Gram Gaurav Sansthan established three community based seed banks. These banks are functioning as nucleus banks, which are demonstrating positive effects on community seed management including its production, procurement, storage and distribution in up to  50 villages.