SEED VILLAGE

Establishment of seed villages

The present programme of seed village scheme is having two phases           

I. Seed production of different crops

Seed village concept is to promote the quality seed production of foundation and certified seed classes. The area which is suitable for raising a particular crop will be selected, and raised with single variety of a kind.

Selection of area

The area with the following facilities will be selected.
1. Irrigation facilities
2. Suitability of climatic conditions to raise the crop for more than one season   
3.Labour availability and Knowledge of local farmers on that particular crop
4. Occurrence or out break of pest and diseases
5. Past history of the area for suitability to raise seed crop
6. Average rainfall and distribution
7. Closeness to a urban area for easy movement of seed and other inputs

Seed Supply

Suitable area for seed production will be identified by the Scientists. The foundation/ certified seeds or University labeled seeds will be supplied by the University through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and Research Stations at 50% subsidy cost to the identified farmers in the area. The farmers will use these quality seeds and take up their own seed production in a small area (1 acre) for their own use. The crops are Rice, Pulses and Oilseeds.

Capacity building

In orderto harness the synergy between technologies and the community participation, special emphasis is being given to build farmer's capacity to produce quality seeds. A training on seed production and seed technology to the identified farmers for the seed crops grown in the seed villages will be given for technology empowerment of farmers.

Duration of the training : 3 days                                               
First one day training : At the time of sowin
Training on   : Isolation distance, sowing practices, seed  treatment, and other agronomic practices.
Second one day training   : During flowering
Training on : Identifying offtypes and removal, maintenance of seed plots, plant protection measures, maturity status and harvesting methods.
Third one day training  : After harvest
Training on  : Seed cleaning, grading, seed treating, bagging and storage aspects, seed sampling and sending to seed testing laboratory for analysis.

A seed grower forum will be organized for further empowerment of technology and marketing. .

Seed village programme in Tamil Nadu         

In order to promote quality seeds for improving production and productivity, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University is implementing Seed Village Scheme for Development and Strengthening of Seed Infrastructure facilities for production and distribution of quality seeds through three Research Stations and 13 Krishi Yigyan Kendras of TNAU with financial support of Government of India.