Beej Gram Yojana: Seed Village Program

Table of Contents

Beej Gram Yojana- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Recently, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare released various implantation details of the Beej Gram Yojana in the Lok Sabha.

About: Seed Village Program (Beej Gram Yojana) is being implemented by the government since 2014-15 to upgrade the quality of farmers’ saved seeds.
Key Objective: To upgrade the quality of farmer-saved seed, which is about 80-85% of the total seed used for crop production. Key Objectives of the Seed Village Program are-
- Increasing the seed production,
- Increasing the seed replacement rate,
- Organizing seed production in cluster/compact areas, replacing existing local varieties with new high yielding varieties,
- Self-sufficiency and self-reliance of the village in terms of quality seed production
- To meet the local demand and timely supply of quality seeds.
Funding: Under Seed Village Program, financial assistance for distribution of foundation/certified seeds at 50% of seed cost for cereal crops and 60% for pulses, oilseeds, fodder and green manure crops is available for up to one acre per farmer.

Implementation: Union Government organizes Zonal Seed Review Meeting twice a year before the onset of each sowing season (Kharif & Rabi).
- Department of Agriculture of different States/UTs, National & State Level Seed Producing Agencies, Seed Certification Agencies are called to assess the requirement and availability of seed across the country prior to every season.
- This is done to ensure the timely availability of seed to farmers.
Implementing Agencies: One implementing agency will be identified for the area/locality and is to be authorized by the State Government. Implementing agencies will be-
- State Departments of Agriculture,
- State Agriculture Universities,
- Krishi Vigyan Kendras,
- State Seeds Corporation,
- National Seeds Corporation,
- State Farms Corporation of India (SFCI),
- State Seeds Certification Agencies,
- Department of Seed Certification.
Monitoring of the Beej Gram Yojana: The Seed Village Program will be monitored by the Seeds Division of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation.
- The implementing agencies will be required to send quarterly progress to the Seeds Division of the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation.