NAFED-BARC tie up to bolster agri production

New Delhi, Mar 29: In bid to distribute high yielding varieties of seeds to farmers in order to bolster the quantity of agricultural produce, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) has decided to enter into a partnership with Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

This initiative from NAFED, which is the national nodal agency for seeds, comes amid the soaring food prices, which the government believes is due to low productivity.

The Mumbai-based nulcear establishement, BARC has been working on high-yielding varieties of seeds under its nuclear agriculture and biotechnology division. It has developed 38 new crop varieties by combining mutation and recombination breeding.

The NAFED and BARC are expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Apr 2010.

“We will create a bridge between the scientist and the farmer. The BARC has generated the technology and it is our turn to disseminate it," NAFED managing director, Dr C V Ananda Bose said on Monday, Mar 29.

Under this tie-up, BARC will be supplying the technology and breeder seeds to NAFED, which will in turn ensure multiplication of the seeds into certified seeds and facilitate distribution to farmers.

Increasing appropriate dissemination of technology, like the BARC-NAFED tie-up, is the only way to increase productivity, Bose added.

Both Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Dr Srikumar Banerjee and his predecessor Anil Kakodkar have also expressed confidence in the partnership.

OneIndia News