Jorhat, June 12: The Assam government has formulated a comprehensive seed production plan to increase quality seed production and improve the storage and marketing scenario.

The normal requirement of seeds of major crops in the state is about 20,000 tonnes per annum whereas the actual production is about 1,500 tonnes only.

“Good quality seeds can contribute more than 50 per cent towards higher production,” an official of the Assam Agricultural University told reporters here yesterday.

He said a high-level committee, constituted by the state government in August last year, had made several recommendations in the crop sector to ensure higher crop productivity.

He said the committee, chaired by university vice-chancellor G.L. Kaul, had been asked to suggest strategies for increasing quality seed production for important crops of the state and also for seed banks to ensure buffer stocks in the state.

The committee submitted its report to the regional committee of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research recently. With the help of three task forces, the committee has formulated workable strategies on three broad areas — seed demand and seed production, marketing, processing and storage.

Among its recommendations is the involvement of private sector to make distribution of seeds more efficient as dependence on government agencies, it said, is a major impediment. “In other states private parties are involved in seed distribution along with government agencies,” the report stated.

The comprehensive report which contains 11 chapters and other valuable annexures is expected to help the state attain self-sufficiency in production, check the huge outflow of money from Assam on account of seed imports and to maintain a buffer stock of seeds to tide over critical situation.

“In order to meet the needs of a population of over 26 million in Assam, it is imperative to ensure availability of seeds of improved varieties to the farmers for sustainable growth of production,” the official said.

He also stressed the need to make farmers in Assam aware of the benefits of periodic replacement of seeds.

Model village

Lalit Barua, a resident of Tekalagaon on the outskirts of Jorhat, has sought help from the PMO to transform his area into a model village.

In a letter to the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Barua stated that his village deserved attention since the plane carrying former Prime MinisterMoraji Desai had crash-landed there on November 4, 1977.

Barua claimed that he was one of the first persons to rescue the late Desai and was invited to Delhi by the latter a fortnight after the incident. “Desaiji had promised me several schemes for the development of the village but nothing happened,” Barua said in his letter.

Another villager, Indeswar Baruah, in whose house Desai was provided first aid, was awarded Rs 1 lakh early this year.

Baruah’s letter, forwarded through senior state BJP leader Dulal Baruah, pleaded with Vajpayee for installation of an aircraft model at the accident site.

Five members of the crew had died in that crash while Desai and his entourage had a narrow escape.

Barua urged Vajpayee to transform Tekalagaon, popularly known as Desai Nagar, into a model village where all basic amenities were available.