Context
The traditional seeds are hastily disappearing after the adoption of the green revolution and contemporary agricultural guidelines.
About Traditional Seeds
- Traditional seeds, also called indigenous or heirloom seeds, are evidently evolved and domestically adapted over generations. These seeds are:
- Open-pollinated and can be stored by farmers,
- Rich in genetic diversity,
- Adapted to local climatic and soil conditions, and
- Culturally embedded in local food structures.
Benefits of Traditional Seeds
- Climate Resilience: Tolerant to drought, floods, and high temperatures.
- Require much less irrigation and less chemical inputs.
- Biodiversity Conservation: Promote genetic diversity important for ecological stability and future crop development.
- Nutritional Value: Millets and pulses comprise better fibre, protein, and micronutrients as compared to polished grains.
- Economic Sustainability: Lower enter expenses as farmers can reuse seeds and rely less on commercial seed and agrochemical markets.
- Cultural and Heritage Value: Integral to standard food practices, festivals, and indigenous knowledge systems.
- Example: Navara rice, a traditional medicinal rice variety from Kerala, is used in Ayurvedic treatments and temple rituals.
Reasons for the Decline of Traditional Seeds
- Policy Bias toward High-Yielding Varieties (HYVs): Green Revolution guidelines focused on maximizing output from a few staple plants like rice and wheat.
- Market and Consumer Preferences: Urban markets and public food schemes prioritize polished, high-yield grains.
- Inadequate Institutional Support: Weak community seed banks and terrible conservation infrastructure.
- Commercialization of Agriculture: It has brought about the dominance of seed organizations and input-intensive farming models (use of Chemical fertilizers, mechanization, irrigations etc), which prioritize hybrid and genetically modified (GM) seeds.
Key Initiatives and Best Practices
- Odisha Millet Mission: Promotes manufacturing, consumption, and marketing of millets in tribal districts.
- Community Seed Banks: Grassroots tasks in states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Odisha guide seed conservation, alternate, and revival.
- M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF): Tribal Agrobiodiversity Centre in Jeypore, Odisha conserves over 1,200 rice varieties.
- FAO and Biodiversity International Programs: Global tasks to report, conserve, and decorate genetic diversity in agriculture.
- Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY): Supports natural farming using traditional seeds and indigenous practices.
Way Ahead
- Policy Reorientation: Integrate traditional vegetation into MSP, PDS, and noon meal schemes.
- Include weather-resilient crops within the National Food Security Mission.
- Strengthening Seed Sovereignty: Expand well-funded community seed banks and local conservation centres.
- Promote Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) with farmer-scientist collaboration.
- Market and Branding Support: Launch recognition campaigns at the health and environmental benefits of traditional plants.
- Create GI tags, natural labels, and e-commerce structures for indigenous grains.
- Education and R&D Investment: Revise agricultural curricula to emphasize traditional expertise structures.
- Allocate research offers for enhancing productivity of traditional types.
Source: The Hindu
Prelims PYQ
Consider the following statements: (2019)
According to the Indian Patents Act, a biological process to create a seed can be patented in India.
In India, there is no Intellectual Property Appellate Board.
Plant varieties are not eligible to be patented in India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
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