Government has recognized the importance of indigenous seeds. Therefore, several policies are being rolled out to encourage conservation of the seeds of native Indian varieties of various crops and trees.
Challenges
Production of indigenous seeds declined over competition with HYV seeds.
This has led to the loss of distinct indigenous seed from cultivation and also caused extinction.
Hybrid seeds over indigenous seed affect soil health as they absorb more nutrients from soil.
Farmers’ reluctance in the propagation of indigenous varieties,
Farmers with large landholdings do not cultivate indigenous crops.
Advantages
Indigenous varieties of rice and millets are resistant to drought, salinity, and floods.
Indigenous seeds require less water as compared to hybrid seed.
Hybrid seeds can be conserved only for one or two years while indigenous seeds can be conserved for two to four years in normal conditions.
There are several health benefits too of indigenous crops. For instance, it helps reduce the risk of developing type II diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases by lowering the glycemic and insulin responses.
Government Initiative
The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) has conserved 94,609 native Indian varieties of different crops and trees in Gene Banks located in different States.
The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmer’s Rights Authority (PPV & FRA) has also registered 1896 native Indian varieties of different crops enabling the farmer to commercialize these varieties.
PPV & FRA encourages the community and individuals engaged in conservation, improvement and preservation of plant genetic resources.
In order to ensure availability of native seeds and improve their usage by farmers, Indian Council of Agricultural Research is developing high yielding and multi stress tolerant varieties of different crop.
In order to enhance indigenous species of trees, this Department is implementing Scheme called Sub-Mission on Agro-forestry since 2016-17 to encourage and expand tree plantation.
