National Agricultural and Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) has tied-up up with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Barc) for distributing high-yielding varieties of seeds to farmers to increase productivity.
It is for the first time that seeds developed by nuclear agriculture and biotechnology division of Mumbai-based Barc will be distributed on a national scale.
?The focus is on increasing farm productivity,? Nafed managing director CV Anand Bose said.
?This can be done only through appropriate dissemination of technology, like the Barc-Nafed tie-up,? he added. An MoU will be signed in April to firm up this tie-up, Bose said.
Under the MoU, Barc will supply technology and breeder seeds to Nafed along with the list of empanelled producers of these seeds. This would enable Nafed to ensure multiplication of the seeds into certified seeds. Nafed will also be allowed to do contract farming by private agencies. All the seeds thus distributed to the farmers will be organic seeds.
Barc has developed 38 new crop varieties by combining mutation and recombination breeding. Agriculture ministry has already notified these varieties for commercial cultivation. The varieties include 20 in oilseeds?groundnut (14), mustard (3), soyabean (2) and sunflower (1), 16 in pulses (green gram or moong (7), black gram (4), pigeon pea or tur (4) and cowpea (chowli), rice and jute (1 each).
Atomic Energy Commission chairman Srikumar Banerjee and his predecessor Anil Kakodkar had been pro-active in forging the Nafed-Barc tie-up. According to Bose, Nafed is equipped to undertake seed distribution in such a large scale.