‘Community seed bank helps farmers’

Siddipet: With a motto to produce, preserve and distribute a variety of seeds, a young Agriculture Extension Officer from Narayanraopet Mandal with the support of some progressive farmers developed a seed bank of a variety of paddy and other seeds.

Collecting some 33 varieties of paddy seeds from different farmers, AEO T Nagarjuna convinced Rythu Samanvaya Samithi co-ordinator, Nagesh Reddy, to take up the cultivation of these varieties in one-acre land so that they can produce these seeds. After getting yield successfully in 2020, they have preserved 33 varieties of paddy at Rythu Vedika in Narayanraopet besides guiding the farmers to cultivate these varieties of paddy.

The farmers of Narayanraopet were now producing seven varieties of paddy seeds in large quantities.

Speaking to Telangana Today, AEO Nagarjuna said that some indigenous or traditional varieties such as black rice, brown rice and others were in good demand in the market. In the days when the farmers were finding it difficult to market their regular varieties of paddy, the AEO said that they can easily market black rice, brown rice and a few others by tying up with some corporate brands.

Preserving indigenous varieties

Moreover, he said that they have also started efforts to protect the dozens of country paddy varieties and hybrid varieties developed by research centers. Saying that they wanted to make them available at a cheaper rate to farmers, Nagarjuna said that they would keep the details of farmers, who were growing seeds, details at Rythu Vedika so that the farmers can straight away approach the seed-producing farmers.

Apart from paddy, he said that they have also preserved five varieties of red gram and two varieties of green gram. Meanwhile, they were also planning to get a variety of oilseeds from the Indian Institute of Oilseed Research to make the farmers cultivate diverse crops in Narayanaraopet Mandal.

Making the most of Rythu Vedika: Putting the Rythu Vedika to the best use, the AEO is also demonstrating vermicompost making, growing of Azolla and making of vermiwash before the farmers during Rythu Vedika meetings in the Mandal