Ranchi: Seed is one of the most important elements for the livelihood of farming communities therefore under the Seed Exchange and Distribution Program scheme, the seeds of Kharif crops are being made available to the farmers on 50 percent subsidy from May 11, 2022.
For the first time in the history of Jharkhand, the process of seed distribution among the farmers has been initiated well ahead of time. By the instructions of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the Directorate of Agriculture is distributing seeds to the farmers through a blockchain-based seed traceability platform.
Through this system, timely availability and quality of seeds is being ensured to the farmers. Due to the timely availability of seeds, the demand for seeds from farmers has registered an increase of almost 4 times as compared to last year. The demand for 38,640 quintal seeds of paddy, arhar, ragi, groundnut, maize, urad and moong has been met for the first time till May 2022.
The total seed distributed in the Kharif season registered an increase of 75 percent with an increase in the production of coarse cereals and pulses by 9 and 2 percent respectively.
Due to the empanelment of the new government seed agency, the seed prices have come down by 4 to 16 percent as compared to the previous year. To bring prosperity to the farmers, the budgetary allocation in the current financial year has been almost doubled from the previous year.