‘Seed Village Program’ proving fruitful in Budgam

Srinagar, Nov 01: The seed village program of the Agriculture Department Kashmir is proving fruitful in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district as it has added more land under seed cultivation.
Syed Mohammad Rizvi, Sub Divisional Agriculture Officer Budgam said under the seed village program they take a big patch of land, which belongs to farmers, for seed cultivation.
He said in Shoogpora village of Budgam they have taken some 70 kanals of land and farmers are given seeds so that they can improve their production and income.
“We have provided a foundation to see the variety of mustard variety Shalimar Special (SS2) and farmers will cultivate it there and it would be constantly monitored by the seed certification agency to see whether all the required parameters are followed or not,” he said.
On the 70 kanals of land, the farmers will be able to produce at least 70 quintals of seed and they will sell it to the department as mustard seed and then given to farmers.
“Seed village is meant for multiplication of seed. Foundation seed is given to farmers, they multiply it and convert it into certified seed and then distributed among the farming community,” the Sub Divisional Agriculture Officer said.
He also said there are two more seed villages in the district, one located at Soibugh spread over 9.5 hectares and another in Budgam spread over eight hectares of land.
“It is a hope for the farmers and aims at improving the socio-economic status of farmers through seed technological interventions,” he said.
To achieve the program goal, the agriculture department has devised several measures to support and encourage the growth of seeds under the program in the region which has also invited the attention of farmers.
The Sub Divisional Agriculture Officer also said that with the help of Seed Village Program, this year the department has been focussed on mustard and notably some 580 hectares of land has been brought under the oil seed cultivation in Budgam tehsil alone.
“This year we aim at extending the area under mustard cultivation to 600 hectares which will give further push to the farming community and encourage them,” he said.
Dr Zeenat Banday, AEO, Department of Agriculture Kashmir, said earlier the Seed Village Program was confined to paddy only. However, this year, the department introduced two more varieties which include maize and beans.
“For example we give them foundation seed as per the target. We take the patch of land which should be transportable and should have proper irrigation facilities,” Dr. Zeenat said.
When the farmers are involved in the seed village program, they get the seed on subsidized rates and then the department procures that seed from the farmers.
Dr. Zeenat said that once the seed is procured then seed is taken to processing at Seed Processing Unit Padgampora in south Kashmir and then it is packed and given to farmers.
Notably, it was only from this year only the Agriculture Department Kashmir introduced new varieties of maize and beans. “People were more interested in the paddy. But now people have shown interest in maize and beans and we are sure that more and more farmers would be motivated for the same,” she said.
She said that under the Holistic Agriculture Development Program (HADP), the program is expected to witness drastic change as the government is planning to further promote the program. “This program is gaining a momentous feat in Kashmir,” she said.
Dr Zeenat said it was this year only the department shifted the offline registration process of farmers to online making it easy for the farmers to apply for the seed village program.
She said that the Seed Village Scheme is meant for improving the socio-economic status of farmers through seed technological intervention and to improve the quality of farmers’ saved seed through use of different seed enhancement techniques.
Dr Zeenat said that people, especially unemployed youth should take advantage of the Seed Village program and it is the best opportunity for them.