New Delhi: Haryana and Gujarat did not spend any of the Rs 15 lakh they received in total for organic farming over the last three years under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), Union agriculture minister Arjun Munda said in parliament recently.

He said that Haryana and Gujarat received Rs 5.05 lakh and Rs 10.10 lakh respectively under the scheme in the last three years.

Goa received Rs 0 and Telangana received Rs 15.15 lakh in the same time period, while other eligible states received over Rs 4 crore.

Uttarakhand received the highest amount, at Rs 180 crore, and utilised Rs 143 crore.

States that did not spend any of the funds they received under the scheme over the last three years are Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Telangana. Of these, Punjab received the highest amount at Rs 18.03 crore, the information provided by Munda said.

Munda was responding to a question by BJP MP from Gujarat Rajeshbhai Chudasama and BRS MP from Telangana Nama Nageswara Rao on steps the government was taking to promote organic and natural farming.

The PKVY is one of two Union government schemes intended to promote organic farming and is implemented in all states other than those in the north-east, Munda’s response said. The other scheme exclusively covers India’s northeastern states.

They involve direct-benefit transfers to farmers for using organic inputs, including organic fertilisers.

“Both the schemes stress on end-to-end support to farmers engaged in organic farming, i.e. from production to processing, certification and marketing, and post-harvest management,” Munda said, adding that they also focused on training and capacity building.

His response also said that the Union government was promoting natural farming – which differs from organic farming in avoiding purchased farm inputs – under a ‘sub scheme’ within the PKVY.

India has promoted organic and natural farming as part of an effort to support minor farmers and make farming more climate-friendly, according to news agency Reuters.

A parliamentary response provided earlier this year by Munda’s predecessor as agriculture minister, Narendra Singh Tomar, said that Haryana had been allocated Rs 20.5 lakh under the PKVY between 2020 and 2022, but that it ultimately received Rs 5.05 lakh.

Gujarat was allocated Rs 41.01 lakh under the scheme in that time period but received Rs 10.10 lakh. It did not spend this amount.

Tomar’s response also provided the number of farmers across many states and Union territories who benefited from the PKVY between 2019 and 2022. However, Gujarat was missing from this list.

“Funds could not be released to remaining states due to slow progress of the implementation/non-utilisation of funds,” his response read.

Gujarat did receive Rs 1.87 crore under the scheme during the financial year 2023-24, a different response by Munda from earlier this month said.

Granny Miller’s heirloom tomatoes or simply saving money at the garden center, collecting seeds is just another adventure in gardening. There are so many seeds to save and share with others, and as many reasons as there are seeds.

Seed saving started when humans settled in one area growing plants rather than gathering what was available while traveling.

Thousands of plants have sprouted with no help from humans, relying on animals, wind and insects to carry pollen from one plant to the next. These open pollinated plants, often called heirlooms, grow true to their parent plant and are the best seeds for saving.

Hybrid seeds may be sterile or not grow back to the plant you want. Saving these seeds will result in unpredictable combinations of the traits of the grandparent plants instead of the parent plant from which you saved seed.

While not good for saving, hybrids are important for all growers — especially organic growers who benefit from the disease resistance or another aspect of certain hybrids.

After the flower or vegetable has matured, you may harvest the seeds. The seedhead or seedpod will often turn a shade of brown when they dry out. This lets you know the seeds are mature and ready to harvest. You need to watch certain seed heads as many open by themselves when seeds are ripe, and you might lose them to the wind or to the ground (and they are too difficult to find!) Tie a bag over the flower’s head, shake the plant and the ripe seeds will fall into the bag. If you’re collecting seeds from a variety of plants at the same time, carry paper lunch bags with you and label as you go. Pick peas and beans right off the vines when the pods have dried out.

After saving black-eyed susans, coneflowers, and zinnias, I just crumble the dried flower heads into prepared soil to plant in spring. I always leave some flowers for the birds. Flower heads of small seed heads are easy to separate by rubbing the flower head across a mesh screen nailed onto a simple wood frame. Large seeds from sunflowers come off the flower head by rubbing two heads together after allowing them to ripen and dry for a couple of months.

Vegetables such as pumpkins, cucumbers, melons and squash and the seeds of tomatoes have a lot of pulp surrounding the seeds. To harvest seeds from these plants, pick the fruit when it is perfectly ripe. Scrape the pulp and seeds out of the fruit and place it into a large bowl of water.

The seeds are easily removed from the pulp after an hour or so of soaking. Place the seeds on a screen or cloth and put them in a warm place for at least one week to dry.

I love to introduce children to gardening so after having them help me collect seeds, we make seed envelopes that they can color and write the seed information on. I place the envelopes into a wide-mouth canning jar with a small muslin bag of silica powder, then place it in the refrigerator.

For details on saving seeds, storage information, and germination tests go to http://go.osu.edu/savingseed

Baytos is an Ohio State University Extension Master Gardener Volunteer in Mahoning County.

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