Impact assessment of seed village scheme in some villages of Jharkhand
Rudrajit Sarkar
Despite a far reaching demand of improved seed in household level, the formal seed sector has been incapable of providing good quality seed in a required amount and in a timely manner. So, there was a need of a comprehensive seed production programme in ground level which would ensure the full participation of farmers. Thus Seed Village Scheme was carried out with the objective of organising seed production cluster, increasing seed production, meeting local demand, increasing seed replacement rate as well as introduction of new crops.
In the above backdrop, the present study has been carried out to assess the impact of this seed village scheme implemented by Divyayan KVK of Ranchi district, Jharkhand. The data has been collected from four villages (Mahuatungri, Soba, Khakhra and Kharkutoli) of Angara and Burmu blocks of Ranchi District to understand the contextual reality. The crops cultivated under the scheme were pea, french bean, cowpea, groundnut, ginger, elephant foot yam, cucumber and Bottle gourd. Total cultivated land was covered for seed production purpose in 57.1 acre of farmers’ field of respective four villages. In this study it was observed that the seed production programme was terminated as the farmers refused to continue the programme due to severe drought in the year 2009 and 2010. Moreover, the hailstorm in the year 2006 and 2007 reduced the yield to a great extent in the villages of Burmu block. However, a positive change in the package of practices of the farmers was observed. Besides, seed production cluster of French bean, ginger and groundnut was observed to be developed. Lack of perception and motivation was also a major factor behind the non-participation in the seed production scheme. The seeds were ultimately brought to the KVK where the seed processing unit was established and the TFL (Truthful Level Seed) seed was named as Divya Seed. For the betterment of the scheme it is recommended that good irrigation structure should be constructed and a clear cut road map should be prepared to uplift the present situation of scientific storage and government seed certification.
Key words: Seed Village Scheme, Impact assessment, TFL Seed, Divyayan KVK, Ranchi.