Evaluation of Management of Seed Supply in Oilseeds and Pulses in Maharashtra

Abstract

The use of quality seed is very important for increasing and stabilizing the productivity of crops. Considering the importance of quality seeds, both the Central and state governments have been making efforts to increase the supply of quality seeds to the farmers in India. While the area cultivated using quality seeds has increased significantly over the years. The spread of adoption of quality seeds is not the same across different crops. Oilseeds and pulses are rich in nutrient content and they also give higher profit per unit of output than many cereal crops. Despite this, the use of quality seeds in these crops is low as compared to many cereal crops. Farmers have been using their crop produce as seed, which generally lacks genetic vigour and thus. It does not help the farmers for achieving higher productivity. Although oilseeds and pulses have occupied an important position in Indian agriculture. Comprehensive studies focusing on the use of quality seeds in these crops are very few and far between. In this study, therefore an attempt has been made to study the production, distribution and adoption of quality seeds in oilseeds and pulses using both secondary as well as primary data collected from Maharashtra.