SEED VENDING MACHINE – ANOTHER CONTRIBUTION OF KERALA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

Kerala Agricultural University materialized the “seed vending machine” in collaboration with “SEAGA” a Delhi-based company.

The contribution is part of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) project “Boosting vegetable production in Kerala through technology innovation and mission mode activities for food and nutritional security” implemented under the Principal Investigatorship of Dr. L. Rajamony, Professor (Research coordination), KAU, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram.

Apart from Dr. Rajamony, a team of KAU Scientists viz., Dr. M. Abdul Vahab, Dr. V.A. Celine, Dr. I. Sreelathakumary, Dr. M.L. Jyothy, Dr. Jessy M. Kuriakose, Dr. K.B. Sheela, Dr. C. Mini, Dr. V.B. Padmanabhan and Dr. P. Rajendran (present Director, and Ex-offico Additional Secretary to Govt., Agriculture (PPM Cell) Department) has actively involved in materializing the idea.

This innovation is the result of the research intervention and discussion made by KAU with a number of Indian and International companies for the last 3 years. Finally it was materialized specifically with the active involvement of Mr. Steven Chesney and a team of Engineers of SEAGA.

It is programmed to make available the quality vegetable seeds through this machine. Seed packets of vegetable seeds of KAU can be had by inserting a note of ` 10 for a single packet. The machine can be programmed to hold 960 packets of vegetable seeds (160 packets each of 6 varieties, 20 packets each of 48 varieties or similar options) under refrigerated conditions. For the time being the first machine has been installed on 09-04-2012 and kept ready in the main office building of College of Agriculture, Vellayani.   Kerala Agricultural University will be joining hands with the Department of Agriculture and the State Horticulture Mission to popularize this seed vending machine among farmers and the public.