Forecasting the rise in the price of wheat seeds owing to crop loss following the rough weather conditions, the Punjab Agriculture Department has appealed to farmers to develop their own wheat seeds for the next cropping season instead of shelling out extra money to acquire it from the seed yielding agencies.
Agro-scientists feared that rough weather conditions could damage the wheat crops to the extent that the grains did not have better quality enough for use as seeds, but during the harvesting of the crops, it has been found that the wheat crops that stood straight against the fluctuation of weather conditions did not lose quality and lustre giving a ray of hope to develop seeds for the next cropping season.
Gurcharan Singh, one of the farmers and residents of Rode village in Moga district said that there is no difference in the cultivation mechanism for yielding seeds or for growing crops.
Most farmers set aside a part of their quality grains for growing seeds that can be utilized in the next season.
Dr Manjit Singh, Chief Agriculture Development Officer and Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, Plant Protection Officer said, these days they are going from village to village to educate the farmers on selecting quality grains from their yield for seeds. They were also sensitizing them on better post-harvest techniques and scientific storage of the seeds.
Dr Brar asked the farmers to wash the grains properly and dry them in adequate sunshine to bring down the moisture content to under 12 per cent to shun the fungi attack and germination.
Before storage, the farmers should also remove the damaged and broken seeds. They should first treat the seeds with insecticide and then store them in airtight containers or new gunny bags. The seeds should be kept in a cool place, away from direct light and humidity, he said.
