The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar laid the foundation stone of an organic seed farm of the National Seeds Corporation (NSC) at Morena in Madhya Pradesh. Upon its completion, new organic seeds of oilseeds will be available to the farmers of Madhya Pradesh. With this farm, farmers will be introduced to modern techniques, they will get high yielding seeds and their socio-economic status will improve. The Madhya Pradesh government has allotted 885.34 hectares of land in four villages — Gadora, Jakhauna, Rithora Khurd & Gorakha.

National Seeds Corporation

• National Seeds Corporation Limited (NSC) was incorporated on March 19, 1963 to undertake production of foundation and certified seeds. It is wholly owned by the government of India under the administrative control of the  ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare. 

• It is a Miniratna Category‐I company. 

• With the launching of the National Seed Project (NSP) in 1974, NSC was assigned the lead role to develop the seed industry in the country. It undertakes production of certified seeds of nearly 621 varieties of 80 crops consisting of cereals, millets, oilseeds, pulses, fodder, fibers, green manure, potato and a wide range of vegetable crops. 

• There are about eight Farms and 12,500 registered seed growers all over the country who are undertaking the seed production programmes in different agro-climatic conditions.

• NSC has regional offices, production centres, seed processing plants, seed storage facilities, etc all across the country to meet the demands of diverse agro ecological situations. 

• Besides production and distribution of quality seeds, NSC is also involved in the production of tissue culture plants. It also undertakes supply of seedlings/saplings of fruit crops. 

• Seed marketing is carried out through five channels namely sale through dealers/distributors, government (state/central), state seed corporation, kisan melas/exhibitions and through its own sales counters.

• NSC plays a key role in the implementation of various schemes like, ‘National Food Security Mission (NFSM)’ and ‘Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)’. 

• It also provides technical support to the seed producing agencies including state seed corporations by imparting training of personnel engaged in the production of seeds in that organisation. 

• NSC is the nodal agency for the implementation of the Central Sector Scheme to create infrastructure facilities for establishment of processing plants and storage godowns in different states in the private sector. 

• NSC also involves in exports of seeds across the world especially in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and African countries.

• State Farms Corporation of India Limited (SFCI) was merged with NSC with effect from April 1, 2014.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (2022)

With reference to the Tea Board in India, consider the following statements:

1. The Tea Board is a statutory body.

2. It is a regulatory body attached to the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

3. The Tea Board’s Head Office is situated in Bengaluru.

4. The Board has overseas offices at Dubai and Moscow 

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 3   (b) 2 and 4   (c) 3 and 4   (d) 1 and 4

Answer:d

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