The Government has a policy to encourage conservation of the seeds of traditional varieties of various crops. The National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) has conserved 64,829 traditional varieties in Gene Banks located in different States.

The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmer’s Rights Authority (PPV & FRA) has also registered 1070 traditional varieties of different crops. PPV & FRA encourages the community and individuals engaged in conservation, improvement and preservation of plant genetic resources of economic plants and their wild relatives particularly in the areas identified as agro-biodiversity hotspots by awarding the community and individuals who have played stellar roles in such activities.

NBPGR and PPV & FRA organizes biodiversity awareness programmes and training for farmers to strengthen community seed system and create awareness to conserve indigenous crop varieties and climate resilient traditional land races of local crops every year.

As collection and conservation of traditional varieties is a continuous activity, 42 exploration and collection missions will be undertaken mainly to collect traditional varieties from tribal areas in the next year by NBPGR.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Parshottam Rupala, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

SS

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