July 2019: PPV&FR Authority registers farmers varieties. Till date 1597 farmers varieties have been registered with PPV&FRA and certificates of registration have been issued. Further, the Protection of Plant Varieties & Farmers Right Authority under the Section 39(1)(iii) of PPV&FR Act, 2001annually confers 35 Awards amounting to Rs.85 lakhs to farmer(s)/ farming communities engaged in conservation of plant genetic resources and which have been used as donor of genes in varieties registerable under the Act. So far 124 farmer(s)/ farming communities have received such Awards.

ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi is conserving seed germplasm for long-term conservation (at -20°C) in its National Genebank (NGB).

NGB has the responsibility of conservation of plant genetic resources for posterity and sustainable use including landraces and traditional varieties which are potential sources of agriculturally important genes. As on 30.06.2019, NGB is holding 4,41,253 accessions belonging to 1948 species including 83394 accessions of landraces/ primitive varieties.

This information was given in a written reply by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha.

Source: http://pib.nic.in/