Lok Sabha Question No. 921 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-13
Subject: Mono-Cropping of Hybrid Varieties
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Arun Sao, Ranjeetsingh Naik Nimbalkar, Sudhakar Tukaram Shrangre, Vijay Baghel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 921

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13 TH  DECEMBER, 2022

## MONO-CROPPING OF HYBRID VARIETIES

921.  SHRI ARUN SAO: SHRI SUDHAKAR TUKARAM SHRANGARE: SHRI VIJAY BAGHEL: SHRI RANJEETSINGH HINDURAO NAIK NIMBALKAR:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षि और ककसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the  Government  is  aware  that  majority  of  farmers  have  lost  their  heritage seeds of wheat and rice varieties, once owned traditionally by their community forefathers, due to mono-cropping of hybrids;
- (b) if so, the details thereof especially for the State of Chhattisgarh; and
- (c) the  remedial  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  identification  and  conservation  of such  heritage  varieties  of  wheat  and  rice  which  have  unique  nutritional,  medicinal  and ecological qualities and climate resilience across the country?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ षि और षकसान कल्याण मंत्री

(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) & (b): No Sir, it is not true that farmers have lost their heritage seeds of Wheat and Rice varieties once owned by their community forefathers due to mono-cropping of hybrids.  The traditional varieties have low yield potential, tall plant height and late maturity duration which restricted  the  farmers  for  their  cultivation  in  large  areas,  however  the  maximum  area  of Wheat  and  Rice  is  under  improved  varieties  developed  by  using  traditional  varieties  as parents.

Moreover, the  varieties  of  different  crops  including  traditional  varieties  have  been conserved in  the  National  Gene  Bank  at  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi. The various collections of  traditional  varieties  from  Chhattisgarh  in  case  of  wheat  and  rice  are  9  and  11,475 respectively. ICAR-NBPGR has conserved 95,602 traditional varieties / farmers varieties/ land races of various  crops  in  the  National  Gene  Bank  for  long  term  storage  out  of  which  13,670 accessions are of traditional varieties. (c):    In  order  to  conserve  the  traditional varieties Government has taken several steps for main  streaming  of  traditional  varieties  of  rice  including  state  of  Chhattisgarh.  Nutritional profiling  of  437  accessions  of  rice  landraces,  from  Assam  (295),  Chhattisgarh  (67), Uttarakhand (63) and Himachal Pradesh (12) was done for important nutritional traits. Besides State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), farmers etc. are also conserving the unique land races / traditional varieties having nutritional, medicinal properties, ecological qualities and climate resilience. In addition, Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers' Rights Authority (PPV&FRA) confers Plant Genome Saviour Community Award (to five farming communities each of Rs.10 lakh cash with citation and memento), Plant Genome Saviour Farmer Reward (to ten individual farmers each of Rs.1.50 lakh cash with citation and memento) and Plant Genome Saviour Farmer  Recognition  (20  individual  farmers  each  recognition  consisting  of  Rs.1.00  lakh  in cash  with  citation  and  memento)  to  farmers/  farming  communities  who  have  conserved genetic resources of land races and wild relatives of economic plants and their improvement through selection and preservation etc. on a yearly basis.

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