SAPNA to distribute high-yield seeds from next season

Speaking to The Indian Express, P S Pangli, founder and president of the association said, “PAU has its own infrastructure and they provide us with technical knowledge. But still, marketing of seeds is lagging. Farmers do not get to know about pure and good quality seeds available with the PAU. And even if they know, PAU lacks in production facility. For instance, only 200 of 2000 farmers get the seeds during the kisan mela due to low production. We are reducing this gap and urging farmers not to use duplicate seeds of private firms. SAPNA members reproduce seeds and distribute among fellow farmers who further reproduce and give seeds to their fellows.” Currently, SAPNA has 137 members.

On Monday, SAPNA submitted an application to director of research at the university and reserved 150 kgs of seed of PB-Naroya. They plan to double the quantity and distribute it to farmers for the upcoming season in November. Last year, SAPNA distributed 80kg of onion seeds.

“The onion seeds varieties from outside Punjab like Nashik record sale of Rs 3 crore in Punjab and farmers suffer losses because they are not suitable to our climate. They are available for Rs 800 to 2000 per kg but with a yield less than 100 quintal per acre, it is not acceptable. Their storage quality is zero with smaller onion size and weight loss problem if stored. We want farmers to use PAU recommendd varieties only and save themselves from losses,” said Pangli.

“Onion prices have rocketed because there is shortage of produce. Had farmers been more aware and grown varieties suitable to our climate producing more yield, we might have avoided this situation,” said Pangli. Apart from onions, SAPNA is working for basmati, wheat, barley, mustard, fodder seed varieties and also provides PAU recommended varieties for chillies and tomatoes.