Seed Bank at Asola Bhatti Sanctuary

• 04 Apr 2023

Why in News?

A ‘seed bank for native plant species found in the Aravallis region is gradually taking shape at a nursery at the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, after a few years of efforts at collecting seeds from across Delhi and other states.

What is the Project?

• About:
  • The project, which started in 2015, is being implemented jointly by the Forest Department and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
  • The nursery at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary is growing more than 100 species of native grasses, plants, and trees, and provides saplings for plantation by agencies in the city.
• Aim:
  • The aim of the seed bank is to supply native saplings for the city and reintroduce species that have become rare or hard to locate.
  • The seed bank also aims to create awareness around the trees that are disappearing in Delhi, have these trees available for people to be able to grow them, and map where they are.
  • The plan is to raise production to around 10 lakh saplings every year.

What is Seed Bank?

• About:
  • Seed banks are important repositories of plant genetic resources.
  • They store seeds of different plant varieties, which are conserved to maintain their genetic diversity and to preserve their ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions.
  • Seed banks also serve as important resources for research, agriculture, and conservation.
• India’s Seed Bank:
  • India has established its own seed storage facility at Chang La in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir.
    • It has been built jointly by the Defence Institute of High-Altitude Research (DIHAR) and the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) in 2010 under the aegis of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
    • It stores over 5,000 seed accessions (one accession consists of a set of seeds of a particular species collected from different geographical and demographic locations).
• World’s Largest Seed Vault:
  • Svalbard Global Seed Vault or Doomsday Vault is the world’s largest seed storage facility situated at Norway.

Asola-Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary

• Asola-Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary covering 32.71 sq. km area on the Southern Delhi Ridge of Aravalli hill range on Delhi-Haryana border lies in Southern Delhi as well as northern parts of Faridabad and Gurugram districts of Haryana state.
• It is also part of the Sariska-Delhi Wildlife Corridor, which runs from the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan to Delhi Ridge.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Q. In the context of food and nutritional security of India, enhancing the ‘Seed Replacement Rates’ of various crops helps in achieving the food production targets of the future. But what is/are the constraint/constraints in its wider/greater implementation? (2014)

1. There is no National Seeds Policy in place.
2. There is no participation of private sector seed companies in the supply of quality seeds of vegetables and planting materials of horticultural crops.
3. There is a demand-supply gap regarding quality seeds in case of low value and high volume crops.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 
(b) 3 only 
(c) 2 and 3 
(d) None

Ans: (b)

Exp:

• In 2002, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare rolled out National Seed Policy, which envisioned development of new and improved varieties of plants, timely availability of quality seeds, the compulsory registration of the seeds, creation of infrastructure facilities, quality assurance, promotion of seed industry, abolition of licensing for seed dealers, facility for import of the best quality seeds, encouragement for export of seeds and creation of Seed Banks And National Seed Grid. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
• As per the seed policy, private seed production agencies were involved in the supply of quality seeds of vegetables and planting materials of horticultural crops. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• Seed Replacement Rate (SRR) is the percentage of area sown out of the total area of crop planted in the season by using certified/quality seeds other than the farm saved seed.The Planning Commission in its mid term appraisal of the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-07) pointed out that SRR remained within 2-10% in certain states for certain crops, which was below the targeted SRR of 33%. Hence, statement 3 is correct.
• According to the Success Report 2018-19 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, India has achieved 33% SRR for self pollinated crops with improvement in the production of High Yielding Variety (HYV) seed.
• Therefore, as per 2002-2007 data, option (b) is the correct answer.

Source: IE