Village Based Seed Banks in Andhra Pradesh - a Case Study

The great majorities of the world's food crops are annual species for which see be sown each season to establish a new crop. Consequently, seeds are the fundal biological component of agricultural production. Agriculture in India is over years old. Farmers have been breed ing, selecting and collecting enough seeds, al years to meet their requirement. The very survival of Indian agriculture for centl a testimony to the sound wisdom on seed production and storage being nurtu the agrarian community. These systems have been variously called a farmer-m;; seed system (Bal and Douglas, 1992); Informal seed system (Cromwell et al traditional seed system and local seed system (Alniekinders et aI., 1994). But, c{ rising population increased pressure on food grain production, is a great task bef( agricultural scientists to achieve. In order to achieve the projected demand, qualit of improved cultivars is the pre-requisite. Improved seed is a catalyst for makin! inputs cost-effective. In spite of many efforts, seed supply particularly of food grair is a serious concern till today..............