Αζη

PARTICIPATORY SEED PRODUCTION PROGRAMME FOR FOOD SECURITY AND TO IMPROVE SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF FARMING COMMUNITY IN KARNATAKA

Introduction

India has achieved self sufficiency in food grain production with significant change from food scarcity (50 million tons in 1947) to food security (>210 million tons) in recent years. Green Revolution of India has been universally acclaimed as successful enterprise of the farmers, scientists and the policy makers of the country.
The landmark achievement in agriculture in 1960’s and 1970’s were the results of a combination of inputs like introduction of high yielding input responsive varieties, increased fertilizer use, expansion of irrigation facilities, extension efforts, improved farm practices and above all ingenuity and industry of the Indian farmers. However, the growth of agriculture has not kept pace with the rapid growth of the population and has stagnated. The national food security, nutritional security and economic development demand a very focused and determined approach to raise productivity and production in agriculture.

Karnataka state with diverse agro-climatic conditions and irrigation potential from different rivers has unique feature of growing majority of the field and horticultural crops to achieve nutritional security of the population. However, the productivity levels of different crops are below the All India average in majority of the crops with some exceptions.

To achieve significant enhancement in productivity of different crops, genetic enhancement through varietal improvement has been the main focus in national and state public and private institutions. In the past two decades, there has been huge investment in development and release of many improved varieties/hybrids realizing their potentiality to enhance productivity. Many improved varieties/hybrids have been developed and released by both public and private sectors for the benefit of the farmers. The enhanced productivity potential of the improved varieties/hybrids have been demonstrated on the farmers fields in front line / first line demonstration or large scale demonstrations. There appears to be a very wide gap between the potential of the improved varieties/hybrids and the realized yield by the farmers as indicated by the average productivity of different crops in Karnataka (Table 1). It has also been demonstrated in majority of the crops that quality seed of improved varieties can help to enhance productivity by 25 to 30%. However, there has been wide gap in quality seed

Table 1: Average yield of improved varieties / hybrids and present productivity of different crops in Karnataka

Sl. No.	Crop	Improved Varieties / Hybrids	Average yield of improved varieties (Q/ha.)	Present productivity (Q/ha.)
1.	Paddy	MTU-1001, MTU-1010, BPT-5204, IR-64, Mugad Basmati, GL-1798, KMP-101, MO-4, IR-139864, Intan, Hemavathi	35-45	25.20
2.	Ragi	GPU-26, GPU-28, IET-7191, Hybude, KRH-2, L-5, Indat-8, Indat-7, MR-1, MR-6, GPU-45	18-20	10.58
3.	Jowar	DSV-1, S, 3, 4, 5, 15, SSV-74	21-30	9.17
3.	Jowar	CSH-14, 16 DSH-3, 4R	45-50	9.17
4.	Bajra	MH-179, ICTP-8203, ICMV-221	20-25	7.29
5.	Wheat	DWR-162, 195, 225, DWR-185, 1006, 2006, DDK-1001, 1009, 1025	40-45	9.17
6.	Maize	DMH-1,2, Hybrid NAH-2049, Prabha, NAC-6002, 6004, SA, NH-434042	50-55	31.57
7.	Redgram	ICPL-87, TS-3, Asha, ICPT-8863, WRP-1, ICPL-87119 (Maruti), GC-11-39, S-1, Sel-31,	12-15	4.41
8.	Greengram	KGM-1, Chinamung, Selection-4, Pusa Baisaki, PDM-84178	8-10	3.89
9.	Blackgram	Manikya, TAU-1, 2, DU-1, T-9, LBG-425	10-12	4.07
10.	Bengalgram	ICCV-2,10, GBS-964, A-1, GJ-11, Bheema	10-12	6.48
11.	Horusegram	PHG-9, BGM-1, GBM-1	8-10	4.61
12.	Field Bean	HA-3, HA-4	10-12	1.83
13.	Cowpea	C-152, KBC-2, PKB-6, VX-944	10-12	4.60
14.	Groundnut	JL-24, TMV-2, TG-26, Dh-86, Dh-40 R-8808, R-9251, TAG-24, GPBD-4, Mutant 28-2, DSG-1 (Mardur Local)	15-25	7.99
15.	Sunflower	DSH-1, RSFH-1, NSP-92-1, Morden, KBSH-1, 41, KBSH-42, KBSH-44, KBSH-53	15-20	3.70
16.	Safflower	A-1, A-2, A-300	12-14
17.	Soybean	JS-335, JS-9305, PK-1029, DSb-1	20-25	8.90
18.	Sesamum	DS-1, E-8	5-6	2.58
19.	Castor	GCH-4, Kranti, SH-41, 48-1	25-30	7.87
20.	Niger	KBN-1, RCG-1	4-5	1.85
21.	Cotton	Abhadita, ACP-71, AH-107, Sahana, RAMPBS-155, DDhc-11, DB-3-12, RAH-100, DLSA-17	15-20	2.98
21.	Cotton	DCH-32, DHB-105, DHH-11, Varalaxmi, DDCC-1, DHH-543, RAHH-1, RAHB-87	20-25	2.98

demand and supply during the peak sowing season. It is also true with horticultural
crops wherein there has been scarcity of vegetable crop seeds and planting materials of genuine quality with improved traits. There are many reasons ascribed to this seed/planting material scarcity situation prevailing in all states including Karnataka. Most of the private companies invest and concentrate on high profit generating high cost low volume seeds that are grown mostly by large farmers on limited scale. The high volume low cost crops are neglected even by the public sector institutes involved in seed production and distribution inspite of huge investments in infrastructure development for this purpose. The planning commission in its Mid-term appraisal of the X Five Year Plan (2002-07) has concluded that despite a huge institutional frame work for seed production in both public and private sector, availability of good quality seeds continues to be a problem for the farmers. As a result they prefer to rely on farm saved seeds; seed replacement rate continues to remain in the range of 2-10% for certain crops especially pulses and oilseeds (Table 2) which is much below the desired level of 25% in self pollinated crops and 35% in cross pollinated crops. As is well known, seed replacement rate has a strong positive correlation with productivity and production of crops. There is a need to rejuvenate the seed sector through revamping the public sector seed agencies. There is a strong correlation between the quality of seed, the seed replacement rate and the yields. However, even in the seed replacement rates achieved so far, they are from bulk supply of seeds old and obsolete varieties instead of new improved varieties/hybrids. The present normal area of different crops, the seed rate per unit area, seed multiplication rate and total seed requirement based on 100% SRR are presented in (Table 3).

The new improved varieties/hybrids developed by many public sector institutes remain in their laboratories instead of reaching the targeted farmers fields. Many of the varieties do not enter the seed production chain due to one or the other lacunae for their notification. Even if they are notified, the indents for the new varieties/hybrids are not forthcoming due to lack of awareness about their performance on farmers fields. Some times, the concerned scientists are unable to meet the huge demand for supply of seeds due to their multiple activities or some technical problems in multiplication of such improved varieties in a particular season or location. All these lead to non-availability of quality seed to the farmers at the time of sowing. Alternatively, the farmer uses farm saved seeds of traditional local varieties resulting in low productivity.

Table 2: Seed replacement rates of important crops achieved in Karnataka compared to all India average

Sl. No.	Crop	Karnataka				All India
Sl. No.	Crop	2001	2002	2003	2004	2001	2002	2003	2004
Cereals
1.	Wheat	6.00	17.00	16.00	17.50	13.04	13.00	13.00	14.36
2.	Paddy	22.00	25.00	25.00	30.30	19.22	19.31	19.16	20.30
3.	Ragi	21.00	23.00	26.00	27.00	17.15	18.00	17.36	19.10
4.	Maize (Hy)	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	20.98	21.35	24.141	30.50
5.	Jowar (V)	13.00	17.00	20.00	21.50	18.36	18.78	26.71	20.87
6.	Bajra (V)	26.00	21.00	22.00	23.00	45.92	48.47	51.02	51.02
Pulses
6.	Bengalgram	5	6	12	14.3	4.17	4.23	7.09	10.90
7.	Blackgram	7	7	18	11.0	16.55	17.06	20.48	23.04
8.	Greengram	7	6	6	12.0	13.47	13.80	19.48	19.48
9.	Redgram	8	8	8	20.0	8.71	8.84	13.60	9.52
Oilseeds
10.	Groundnut	2.5	4	5	5.8	5.2	5.50	11.00	7.92
11.	Soybean	16	13	25	35	12.44	12.45	15.58	27.42
12.	Sunflower	18	14	15	20	13.73	15.69	19.61	52.63
Commercial Crops
13.	Cotton varieties	6	10	9	13.5	21.21	21.86	19.84	20.45

Table 3: Normal area and total seed requirement of important crops in Karnataka

Sl. No.	Crop	Normal area (lakh ha)	Seed Rate (Kg/ha)	SMR	Total seed requirement (‘000 tons) (100% SRR)
1.	Paddy	13.3	40	1:75	53.23
2.	Ragi	9.3	7	1:80	6.51
3.	Jowar	18.1	12	1:100	21.73
4.	Bajra	3.4	4	1:200	1.35
5.	Wheat	2.5	100	1:20	25.31
6.	Maize	6.2	20	1:80	12.49
7.	Redgram	5.2	20	1:100	10.47
8.	Greengram	3.7	20	1:40	7.35
9.	Blackgram	1.5	20	1:40	2.93
10.	Bengalgram	4.3	20	1:10	32.08
11.	Groundnut	9.4	150	1:6	141.14
12.	Sunflower	7.2	10	1:100	7.12
13.	Safflower	1.0	12	1:60	1.16
14.	Soybean	1.5	65	1:15	4.30
15.	Sesamum	0.8	5	1:250	0.41
16.	Castor	0.2	12.5	1:60	0.28
17.	Cotton	4.8	20	1:50	9.65
18.	Horsegram	3.56	25.0	1:40	8.90
19.	Field bean	0.77	35.0	1:35	2.69
20.	Cowpea	0.27	20.0	1:60	0.54
21.	Niger	0.44	1.5	1:27	0.06
	Total	97.44	-	-	349.70

SMR : Seed multiplication ratio

SRR : Seed replacement rate

To mitigate these problems farmers participatory seed / planting material production of improved varieties/hybrids in different field and horticultural crops is suggested with the following objectives.

Objectives

1. Demonstration of improved varieties/hybrids and technologies on farmers field.

2. Large scale seed production and distribution through farmers participatory seed production programmes.

3. To upgrade the quality of produced seeds through seed processing and seed treatment.

4. Quality control of the produced seeds by seed testing.

5. To undertake human resource development (HRD) by imparting training to the field staff and farmers on seed production and quality control.

6. Employment generation at village level by involving rural youths and school dropouts in seed production activities.

Programme implementation

The farmers’ participatory varietal selection and seed production approach will be followed to achieve the above mentioned objectives under seed village concept as detailed below.

The gap between requirement of quality seeds for the state and their supply rate is large. The supply of seeds by the public sector organizations and private agencies is insufficient to bridge the gap. The gap may be reduced by involving the end users i.e. farmers in the production of quality seeds. A group of farmers or villages will be identified under "seed village" concept to produce a particular crop/variety. Villages with a potential of producing seeds will be identified around the research stations for easier and quality multiplication of varieties of different crops.

The main objective of the seed-village programme is to involve farmers in seed production and thereby make quality seed available at a reasonable price. Another objective is to demonstrate and saturate selected potential villages with improved varieties/hybrid seeds of major crops. The implementation of this programme by UAS, Dharwad and UAS, Bangalore in Karnataka has been most successful. With this concept the university could produce more quantity of quality seeds under this programme. University scientists monitor such activities in all stages of seed production. This activity provided employment to seed growers and to several other villagers for seed processing, bagging and distribution.

For implementation of seed production under seed village concept, villages are selected. Before the start of the programmes, through a training programme, villagers are educated about the ‘Seed Village’ concept and its importance in disseminating the improved production technologies and saturating with quality seeds. Secondly, the University supplies genetically pure seeds of improved varieties on credit/actual quantity taken for sowing to be returned after harvest. Thirdly, the breeders of respective crops along with seed unit scientists visit seed production plots of each village regularly with 10-15 days interval and provide technical guidance to the farmers regarding seed production during the crop growth. During the crop season, the training programmes are organized to educate the farmers on seed production skills. The Seed Mela’s are also organized by inviting all the farmers of that village and of nearby villages to make them aware about improved varieties, importance of quality seed in getting increased yield and disseminating information regarding availability of seed. The seed thus produced is purchased by the university to the extent of 50 percent for distribution under various government programmes. The remaining 50 percent of the quality seeds left with the seed producing farmers under this programme will be encouraged to distribute the seed to their relative/neighborers/other fellow farmers within and outside villages to saturate the nearby areas with quality seeds.

Under ‘Seed Village’ concept, besides the aim of popularization of improved varieties/production technologies, the client (Public-private seed industry/seed indenter) oriented seed production is also undertaken. During the production programme, innovative techniques viz., seed treatment with bio-agents and Rhizobium cultures, pest control through IPM/bio-agent are addressed to minimize the cultivation cost. The training on post harvest handling of produce is also arranged. Since the scientists are visiting the seed villages regularly, the problems faced by the farmers in the crop production of other crops are also addressed. This system enables to develop intimate scientist-farmer relationship thus resulting in efficient transfer of implementable new technologies including varieties /hybrids and feed back of new problems to initiate research. In few villages the farmers established the ‘seed growers associations’ for strengthening the seed production activities. The area and seed requirements based on the recommended seed replacement rates of 25% for self pollinated and 35% for cross pollinated crops are presented in Table 4 and similarly based on the proposed SRR for Karnataka in XI plan, seed requirements for each crops is computed (Table 5).

Table 4: Total area and seed requirement of important field crops

Sl. No	Crop	Area requirement (‘000 ha)		Seed requirement (‘000 tons)				Total (40%)
Sl. No	Crop	SRR 100%	SRR 25%/35% SP/CP	SRR 100%	SRR 25%/35% SP/CP	UAS, DWD	UAS, B’lore	Total (40%)
1.	Paddy	17.74	4.43	53.23	13.30	2.66	4.33	6.99
2.	Ragi	11.50	2.90	6.51	1.62	0.32	0.56	0.88
3.	Jowar	21.60	4.51	21.73	5.42	1.53	-	1.53
4.	Bajra	1.70	0.60	1.35	0.48	0.95	-	0.95
5.	Wheat	12.65	3.16	25.31	6.33	1.27	-	1.27
6.	Maize	7.80	2.73	12.49	2.79	0.87	0.62	1.49
7.	Redgram	5.24	1.83	10.47	3.67	0.73	0.73	1.46
8.	Greengram	9.19	2.30	7.35	1.84	0.37	0.37	0.74
9.	Blackgram	3.66	0.92	2.93	0.74	0.14	0.14	0.28
10.	Bengalgram	42.77	10.70	32.08	8.02	1.60	0.50	2.1
11.	Groundnut	156.82	39.20	141.14	35.28	7.06	7.06	14.12
12.	Sunflower	7.12	2.49	7.12	2.50	0.50	0.18	0.68
13.	Safflower	1.61	0.56	1.16	0.40	0.06	0.06	0.12
14.	Soybean	4.41	1.10	4.30	1.07	0.21	0.11	0.32
15.	Sesamum	0.33	0.11	0.41	0.10	0.02	0.02	0.04
16.	Castor	0.37	0.13	0.28	0.10	0.02	0.01	0.03
17.	Cotton	9.65	3.37	9.65	3.38	0.67	0.48	1.15
	Total	314.16	81.04	337.51	87.04	18.98	15.17	34.15

SRR : Seed replacement rate

SP : Self pollinated crops

CP : Cross pollinated crops

Table 5: Proposed seed replacement rates and seed requirements

Sl. No.	Crop	2008-09		2009-10		2010-11
Sl. No.	Crop	SRR	Seed requirement (‘000 tons)	SRR	Seed requirement (‘000 tons)	SRR	Seed requirement (‘000 tons)
1.	Paddy	30.0	15.97	31.0	16.50	33.0	17.57
2.	Ragi	27.0	1.76	28.0	1.82	29.0	1.89
3.	Jowar	23.5	5.11	24.0	5.21	25.0	5.43
4.	Bajra	26.0	0.35	27.0	0.36	28.0	0.38
5.	Wheat	18.5	4.68	19.0	4.81	19.5	4.93
6.	Maize	25.0	3.12	30.0	3.75	35.0	4.37
7.	Redgram	20.0	2.09	22.0	2.30	24.0	2.51
8.	Greengram	20.0	1.47	22.0	1.62	24.0	1.76
9.	Blackgram	20.0	0.589	22.0	0.64	24.0	0.70
10.	Bengalgram	19.5	6.25	19.5	6.25	20.0	6.42
11.	Groundnut	10.0	14.11	10.5	14.82	11.0	15.52
12.	Sunflower	24.0	1.71	24.5	1.74	25.0	1.78
13.	Safflower	21.0	0.24	23.0	0.27	24.0	0.28
14.	Soybean	29.0	1.25	31.0	1.33	33.0	1.42
15.	Sesamum	9.0	0.04	9.5	0.04	10.0	0.04
16.	Castor	9	0.02	9.5	0.03	10.0	0.03
17.	Cotton	16	1.54	18	1.74	19.0	1.83
18.	Horsegram	9	0.89	10	0.98	11.0	1.09
19.	Cowpea	20	0.55	22	0.61	24.0	0.66
20.	Field bean	15	2.69	17	3.05	19.0	3.41
21.	Niger	7	0.07	8	0.08	10.0	0.10
	Total	-	64.50	-	67.95	-	72.12

District-wise infrastructure requirement

For effective implementation of the project and to increase the Seed Replacement Rate (SRR) of major crops in Karnataka there is a need for additional infrastructure district-wise in addition to the existing facilities in the University. The district-wise infrastructure requirements are proposed in Table 6 & Fig.1.

Seed extension activities

Trainings

Production of quality seeds depends on the skill of the seed grower. The seed grower should have a thorough knowledge about the seed production and other post harvest technologies to produce, process and store good quality seeds. In order to impart this knowledge to farmers, the Seed Unit organizes the training programmes to the farmers on various aspects of seed production techniques, seed crop management, pest and disease management, seed quality, post-harvest handling, seed storage etc of different crops.

Demonstrations

To enhance the adoption level of new varieties/hybrids and to demonstrate new seed production technologies, the following demonstrations are conducted on farmer’s fields.

· Hybrid seed production technology in different crops like cotton, sunflower, maize etc. have been demonstrated on farmers field to get higher seed yield with better quality.

· Integrated pest management practices (IPM) using bio-control agents have been demonstrated to reduce the cost of seed production in different crops including hybrid cotton that saved use of costly pesticides spray several times.

· Advanced recent techniques like Broad Bed and Furrow (BBF) and polythene mulch groundnut (PMG) methods for substantial increased seed yield with high seed quality have been demonstrated under water scarce or excess conditions.

· Many new crop varieties / hybrids in different crops can be demonstrated for seed production that helped for their adoption on large scale in new regions.

· Demonstrations of crop management and post harvest technology and seed processing techniques to recover more quality seeds in different crops.

· Demonstrations for quality improvement of farm saved seeds with intervention at different stages of crop production, processing and storage.

Table 6 : District wise infrastructure required for participatory seed production

Sl. No.	District	Seed processing plant	Seed testing lab	Seed godown	Threshing & drying yard	Multi crop threshers	Groundnut graders	Combine harvesters	Mobility vans	Trucks
INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIRED FOR UAS, DHARWAD
1.	Dharwad	-	-	1	-	1	2	-	1	2
2.	Haveri	1	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-
3.	Gadag	1	1	1	1	1	-	-	1	-
4.	Koppal	1	-	1	1	-	-	1	-	-
5.	Bellary	1	1	1	1	1	-	-	1	-
6.	Raichur	-	-	1	-	1	-	-	1	-
7.	Gulbarga	1	1	2	1	-	-	1	1	-
8.	Bidar	1	-	1	1	1	-	-	-	-
9.	North Kanara	1	1	1	1	1	-	-	1	-
10.	Bijapur	-	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	-
11.	Bagalkot	1	-	2	1	1	4	-	1	2
12.	Belgaum	1	1	2	1	1	-	1	1	-
	Total	9	6	15	10	10	8	4	9	4

INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIRED FOR UAS, BANGALORE
13.	B’lore Urban	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	1	-
14.	B’lore Rural	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	1	-
15.	Kolar	-	-	1	-	2	1	-	1	-
16.	Tumkur	-	-	2	1	2	2	-	1	-
17.	Shimoga		1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1
18.	Chitradurga	-	1	1	1	2	1	-	1	1
19.	Davanagere	-	-	1	1	1	1	1	-	-
20.	Mysore	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	-
21.	C’nagar	-	-	1	-	2	-	-	-	-
22.	Mandya	-	1	1	1	2	1	-	1	1
23.	Kodagu	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-
24.	Hassan	-	1	1	1	1	-	-	1	-
25.	Chikmangalur	1	-	1	-	-	-		1	-
26.	Dakshin- kannada	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
27.	Udapi	-	1	1	1	1	-	-	-	-
Total		1	5	12	10	16	9	2	9	3
Grand Total		10	11	27	20	20	17	6	18	7

Field days

To popularize the improved varieties/hybrids and seed production technologies, number of field days need to be organized at seed production plots of various crops.

· Every year, number of field days to be organized to show the seed production technologies adopted in different crops at main campus and at several research / seed stations.

· Krishimela is being organized every year at main campus during September-October months. More than 4 lakhs farmers are participating in this mela. UAS branded seeds and planting material sale and technology demonstrations are major attractions of this mela.

Seed quality management

In order to ensure high quality of seeds produced, a systematic approach right from maintenance breeding to seed treatment and packing is followed. Genetic purity is ensured through scientific nucleus seed production by growing progeny rows of each improved variety / parental lines of hybrids. Frequent field monitoring and training to the local field staff helped in implementing roguing operations. Training and on farm demonstration on crop management and post harvest handling enabled to mitigate seed moisture, health and physical purity problems. Farmers and local field staff are also trained for seed quality assessment by local means available at villages. Final seed quality assessment is done at notified seed testing laboratory and in our own seed testing laboratory. Grow out tests and field emergence tests are also conducted to confirm the quality of seeds.

The possible use of advanced techniques like electrophoresis and DNA finger printing have been tested in different crops like groundnut, soybean, cotton, sunflower, maize, cowpea, sesame etc. The results are encouraging and further reduction in cost with recent advances would help to adopt these techniques in future to enhance efficiency and accuracy of seed quality assessment. Our laboratories are also well equipped with seed quality assessment of GM crops that would flood the market in future.

Human resource development

The unemployed agricultural graduates and post-graduates are hired on temporary basis and are made to stay in villages and supervise hybrid seed production programmes. These graduates / post-graduates get hands on training as well as practical experience in producing quality seeds. After completion of one year, these graduates are encouraged to take up their own entrepreneurship or enter the public/private sector.

These graduates / post-graduates are trained to understand the field problems faced by the farmers in seed production like incidence of insect pests, diseases, nutrient deficiencies pollination etc. The concerned crop specialists will be involved in correction of such field problems including integrated pest / disease / nutrient management (IPM/IDM/INM) and the field level workers including hired graduates / post-graduates train the local farmers on these aspects to mitigate such problems to enhance productivity and quality of seed. The trained graduates and post-graduates become conversant with all such field problems and their possible solutions.

The rural youth who are involved in seed production also get hands on training on various technical aspects of crop production as well as particular technical matters of seed production, seed processing and seed quality testing. This would help in expanding such activities on large scale in rural areas by identifying potential seed villages for each of the crop.

The rural employment generation in seed production especially in hybrid seed production and seed processing operations would be considerable. The rapid expansion of such activities especially hybrid seed production in field crops and horticultural crops would generate more number of man days to enhance per capita income indirectly apart from significant increase in food grain production.

Budget requirement

With vast experience in participatory seed production and infrastructure available both the Agricultural universities is proposing a project on participatory seed production for food security and improve the socio-economic status of farming community in Karnataka, with an outlay of Rs.5000 lakhs (Five thousand lakhs) (Table 7) for three years for entire Karnataka covering all the districts. To initiate the project the infrastructure like seed processing lab, seed testing lab, seed growers, harvesting maintaining etc., is essential for different zones and the budget proposal of Rs.2464 lakhs (Two thousand Four hundred and sixty four lakhs) has been made towards non-recurring expenditure. For implementation of project human resource specially filed technical and supervising staff to organise and monitor the programme is very much needed, several field visit interaction with farmers and prerequisite which needs contractual service and TA and POL grants for mobility. During the implementation of the programme the farmers will be educated about the quality seeds and production of quality seeds under seed village concept. Once the programme starts the farmers will be trained at different stages starting from sowing up to packaging. Normally, training will be organised at three stages of seed production programme i.e., before sowing, flowering time and at harvest and post harvest. Farmers will be educated and trained on seed production, roughing, pest management, harvesting, cleaning, grading, testing and storage of seeds. Hence, an outlay of Rs.225 lakhs (Rupees Two hundred and twenty five lakhs) has been proposed for capacity building. Revolving fund is another important component which is essential for immediate payment to the seed farmers and sometimes advance payment to farmers to support their production programme. Further, the revolving fund is required to meet the date to day expenses while organising the participatory seed production programme. Hence, an amount of Rs.1300 lakhs (Rupees Thirteen Hundred lakhs) was proposed as a one time grant for effective implementation of the project.

Table 7 : Budget requirement for participatory seed production in UAS, Dharwad and UAS Bangalore

(Rs. in lakhs)

Sl. No	Item	Cost per Unit	UAS, Dharwad						UAS, Bangalore					Grand Total
Sl. No	Item	Cost per Unit	No. of Units	I year	II year	II year	Total		No. of Units	I year	II year	II year	Total	Grand Total
A. Non-recurring contingency
1.	Seed processing plants	30.00	9	270	-	-	270		1	30	-	-	30	300
2.	Seed testing lab	35.00	6	210	-	-	210		5	175	-	-	175	385
3.	Seed godowns	50.00	15	750	-	-	750		12	600	-	-	600	1350
4.	Threshing & drying yard	10.00	10	100	-	-	100		10	100	-	-	100	200
5.	Multicrop threshers	1.00	10	10	--	--	10		16	16	--	--	16	26
6.	Groundnut graders	3.00	8	24	-	-	24		9	27	-	-	27	51
7.	Combine harvesters	10.00	4	40			40		2	20			20	60
8.	Vehicles (Pickup Van)	5.00	9	45	-	-	45		9	45	-	-	45	90
9.	Trucks	10.00	4	40	-	-	40		3	30	-	-	30	70
10.	SAP programme (computer Software) to link university seed production activities	16.00	1	16	-	-	16		1	16	-	-	16	32
	Total			1505			1505			1059			1059	2564
B. Other Requiring Contingencies
1.	Contractual help	-	-	120	120	120	360	-		100	100	100	300	660
2.	POL	-	-	20	20	20	60	-		8	8	8	24	84
3.	TA	-	-	20	20	20	60	-		8	8	8	24	84
4.	Trainings	-	-	50	50	50	150	-		25	25	25	75	225
5.	Contingencies	-	-	25	20	20	65	-		6	6	6	18	83
				235	230	230	695			147	147	147	441	1136
C. Revolving Fund
1.	Revolving fund	-	-	800	-	-	800	-		500	-	-	500	1300
	Grand Total			2540	230	230	3000			1706	147	147	2000	5000

ABSTRACT OF BUDGET REQUIREMENT

(Rs. in lakhs)

Sl. No.	Particulars	UAS, Dharwad				UAS, Bangalore				Grand Total
Sl. No.	Particulars	I year	II year	III year	Total	I year	II year	III year	Total	Grand Total
1.	Non-recurring contingencies	1505	-	-	1505	1059	-	-	1059	2564
2.	Recurring contingencies	235	230	230	695	147	147	147	441	1136
3.	Revolving fund	800	-	-	800	500	-	-	500	1300
	Total	2540	230	230	3000	1706	147	147	2000	5000

Vice-Chancellor Vice-Chancellor

UAS, Dharwad UAS, Bangalore

The implementation of the project would help to enhance the quality of farm saved seed used by majority of the farmers in rural areas. The introduction of new improved varieties / hybrids through this project would help for their quick spread on farmer’s fields and the further multiplication of farmers accepted varieties / hybrids would retain them on farmers fields for long period to harvest their economic benefits.

The seed replacement rates of the state for different crops especially in pulses and oilseed crops are very low compared to All India average and for below the expected 25 per cent for self pollinated and 35 per cent for cross-pollinated crop varieties. The implementation of the project would increase the seed replacement rates substantially at least to the extent of more than 10-12 per cent in pulses and oilseeds thus resulting in increased production in these crops besides cereals and commercial crops. With the farmers participatory approach, the improved variety / hybrid suitable for his field and needs would help to extend the cultivation of new improved varieties and hybrids which would otherwise remain in the place of origin. Thus, quality seed availability of improved varieties / hybrids in each crops grown by the Karnataka farmers would aid in increasing crop productivity by at least 15-20 per cent. This would be the initial step to achieve at least 4 per cent annual agricultural growth rate from the present 2.5 per cent annual growth rate.

Further, this project enables to develop intimate Scientists-Farmers relationship, thus resulting in efficient transfer and implementation of new technologies including varieties / hybrids and feedback of new problems to initiate research.

Crop