Seed bank under construction, says Agri Director
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 24 2018: A seed bank is being constructed at Wangbal in order to preserve popular paddy varieties of the State and 763 different varieties are being conserved in the form of germplasm, said Agriculture Director Ph Rajendra.

A series of press conference which would be addressed by heads of departments was launched today at DIPR complex, Moirangkhom.

The first day was addressed by heads of Agriculture and Art & Culture Department.

Ph Rajendra said that a seed bank is being constructed at the Wangbal Rice Research Centre in order to preserve paddy varieties which are there in the State since early days.

The construction work is likely to be completed by March.

However, farmers do not cultivate these paddy varieties of olden days as their yields are minimal.

Nonetheless 763 varieties of paddy are being preserved in the form of germplasm.

On account of the repeated floods which ravaged vast areas of paddy fields last year, the State may face rice deficit of around two lakh metric tonnes this year, Rajendra said.

Talking about the shrinking agricultural lands, the Director said that district level officers of Agriculture Department have been submitting reports to DCs from time to time.

But without Revenue Department, Agriculture Department cannot do anything, he said.

Reports about shrinking agricultural land have been received from Imphal East, Imphal West and Thoubal districts.

The loss of agricultural land is much greater in Thoubal district as compared to Imphal East and Imphal West districts.

But no such report has been received from Bishnupur district Under the Central sector scheme of Mission Organic Value Development Programme, the department has been cultivating black rice (Chakhao) over 500 hectares each in Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal and Bishnupur districts, Rajendra said.

Even though the department set a target of 5000 metric tonnes of Chakhao last year, the same target could not be achieved due to floods and excessive rainfall and Chakhao yield was limited to 1948 metric tonnes.

The department has been working to open farm machinery banks for farmers and with this in mind, maximum efforts are being invested to form as many farmers' clubs as possible, Rajendra said.

An additional work plan of Rs 50 crore has been sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Centre would give subsidy in purchasing machinery.

Altogether 9465 farmers have been enrolled under the crop insurance scheme and this scheme can compensate farmers to some extent even if their crops are damaged by different factors, said the Director.

The department has been preparing 3540 soil health cards for distribution by the Prime Minister when he comes to Imphal in March, he added.

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