R. Palpandi, a farmer from Alligundam panchayat, was not earning adequately by selling the pulses cultivated in his 11-acre farm in the market. That is when he was given the idea of cultivation for seeds, which could be sold to Tamil Nadu State Seed Development Agency (TANSEDA).
Today, Mr. Palpandi claims that with the cultivation of green gram for seeds, he earns nearly thrice the amount of what he used to.
Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao, who inspected Mr. Palpandi’s farm along with senior officials on Wednesday, said that with additional effort and adherence to rigorous quality standards, farmers could earn manifold through seed production.
S. Kanagaraj, Joint Director of Agriculture, who is also the General Manager of TANSEDA for the district, said that any farmer could apply for seed production and the government provided subsidy for the production apart from a premium price for every kilogram of certified seeds procured from the farmer.
“In case of green gram, we provide Rs. 81.3 per kilogram for procured seed and a production subsidy of Rs. 25 per kilogram. The farmer may not get even half this price if the produce is sold in the market,” he said.
Explaining the procedure, R. Ravichandran, Deputy Director (Agriculture) for State Schemes, said that farmers could register for the scheme by paying a minimum amount with the department. “Quality seeds will be provided to the farmer for sowing. At every stage of cultivation, rigorous inspection will be performed by the Assistant Director of the respective area, seed certification team and seed testing officer,” he said.
Mr. Ravichandran said that both physical purity and genetic purity of the seeds being grown would be ensured.
“After cultivation and processing, seeds will again be tested and certified before procurement,” he said. He added that since TANSEDA produced only one-third of the required seeds on its own, farmers had a huge scope in meeting the remaining demand.
