Studies on Policy Option for Quality Seed Production and ... - NFPCSP

5. KEY FINDINGSThe findings of the present study reveal that farmers all over the study locations use 70-80% of riceseed, 50-60% of the wheat seed from their homegrown grain crops. The major outer suppliers of rice(20-30%) and wheat (40 -50%) seeds to farmers are BADC, DAE, Seed Dealers, NGO etc. Becausemaize cultivation is now almost entirely switched over to hybrid cultivars (mostly of exogenous origin),farmers cannot produce maize seeds from their own rather they fully depend on the supply of maizeseed from seed dealers, seed companies, NGOs, BADC and so on. The key findings of the study arepresented below:5.1 Crop: Rice1) It is a fact that farmers homegrwon seed occupies the major position of the seed supply butfarmers are not happy with using their own seed. During conducting FGD and PRA, many ofthem confessed that their own seed is just okay but inferior to the seeds obtained from theresearch/BADC/DAE in terms of yielding ability. This is because, they do not follow thestandards of seed production package as set by SCA and that their seed deterioration isconsiderably high at stoarge. The analysis of the sample seed obtained from the farmersconfirm a high seed moisture, low germination and vigor, which are considered inferior toplanting.2) Farmers seldom use the recommended fertilizer dose for seed/grain production. They are notmuch concerned about the use of balanced fertilizers and often they use high fertilizer-N butlower or no application of P, K and other micronutrients. They have not even the access to thecommunity awarness programme, training and other motivational programmes.3) More than 80% of the farmers use Katcha floor for grain drying, as they don’t have Puccafloor. The moisture content of rice seed cannot be attained below 12% by using the Katchafloor, because the seed during the drying process absorbs moisture from the soil.4) A majority of the farmers store rice seeds in locally available containers viz. poly bags, plasticdrums, gunny bags, metallic drums, homemade earthen pot, polythene bags etc. But as long asthe container is airtight, properly dried seeds could be stored safely only for 2-3 months, afterwhich further drying and cooling are needed. So up to the next planting time, 2-3 operations ofintermittent drying and cooling are required. But the farmers do no follow this practice rightlyand so the there occurs post harvest loss of seeds by up to 16% in terms of germination, vigorand insect and disease damage. No modern storage devices like USA organic cocoon, Germaxcocoon, IRRI made storage bag, rexin cocoon, thick poly bag and ferro-cement binareintroduced to the famers as safer storage devices.5) A section of the rice farmers are highly convinced with the trust of the seed dealers. But seeddealers are not in a position to supply all the demand of seeds to the farmers and the fomer cansupply the seeds only which they collect and not beyond that. In a small number of cases,failure of seed germination is reported, although there is no insurance system prevailing.6) Rice seed supply to farmers is inadequate and sometimes, a popular variety out of the system isleaked through the border belts and the variety is under cultivation. For instance, the rice104