Agri. experts highlight importance of traditional plants, seeds

Kumar Rajiv Nayan

Ara : A day long farmer training programme on ‘Plant Variety and Farmers Rights Protection Act 2001’ was organized on the campus of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, SCADA, Japani Farm Centre, Ara, on April 21, 2018. Around 600 farmers participated in the training programme. Dr Anjani Kumar Singh, Director, Atari Zone IV, Patna, inaugurated the programme.

Addressing the farmers, Dr Anjani Kumar Singh stressed on importance of traditional varieties of plants and seeds saying they had taste and immunity power and also prove beneficial for the improvement of new variety. The neglect of traditional plant and seed variety affects biodiversity, he said.

Dr Praveen Kumar Dwivedi, Senior Scientist and Head, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, SCADA, Ara, preservation of tradition variety is must for doubling the income of farmers and the Government of India has so decided to preserve them in the gene banks. He said that spice crops still have special quality and its preservation is essential. He said that 17 traditional varieties have been sent to the Government of India from Bhojpur for preservation. He also said that new variety is directly related to Woman and Child health and women may play important role in its preservation.