Lucknow, February 2 (IANS). Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that the real power of agricultural production lies in high quality, reliable and certified seeds. He said that a new and modern ‘seed policy’ for the state is the need of the hour. Land holding is continuously decreasing, hence the focus should not be only on the area but on increasing the productivity per hectare.
The Chief Minister directed that by giving priority to the development of high yielding, disease-resistant and climate-tolerant varieties, a seed policy should be prepared which will provide solutions to the agricultural challenges of the coming years.
While discussing the seed policy, CM Yogi stressed on preparing a concrete roadmap to take the state’s seed production capacity, quality and availability to a new level for the next five years. The Chief Minister said that maximum use of modern technology is necessary in the entire process of seed production, processing and storage, so that there is no shortage of certified seeds and farmers can become empowered.
The Chief Minister directed to mandatorily implement end-to-end traceability of every seed to ensure reliable seed supply. He said that any laxity towards adulterated or non-standard seeds will not be acceptable. Every seed packet reaching the farmers must be certified, tested and completely standard. He called for the need to accelerate seed research, innovation and variety-release process by bringing agricultural universities, ICAR institutes, UCPAR and private seed industry on a common platform.
To give impetus to crop diversification, he asked to prepare a special strategy for availability of high quality seeds of pulses, oilseeds, maize, millet, jowar and horticulture crops. In this sequence, instructions were given to work rapidly towards establishing at least five ‘seed parks’ in the state in the next five years. These seed parks will be integrated complexes equipped with all facilities for production, processing, quality testing and storage.
The Chief Minister directed that all the agricultural science centers of the state should be directly linked to the seed development programmes, so that strong coordination can be established between research, training and dissemination of technology at the farm level. He said that according to the nine climatic zones of the state, each Krishi Vigyan Kendra should be developed as a Center of Excellence, so that high quality seeds and technical solutions can be prepared for region-specific crops. The Chief Minister also stressed on connecting progressive farmers with seed development programmes, so that effective coordination of local experience and modern technology can be made.
The Chief Minister also stressed on increasing energy efficiency in agriculture. He said that more and more tube wells should be connected to solar energy, so that the irrigation expenses of farmers can be reduced and the use of clean energy in agriculture will increase. Along with this, while giving instructions to give priority to the solar panel units established in the state, he said that promoting local manufacturing will strengthen employment, investment and agricultural infrastructure.
–IANS
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