LUCKNOW, May 16 -- In a major step towards making Uttar Pradesh self sufficient in seed production, the state cabinet on Thursday gave a nod to the state's first seed park in Lucknow that would be developed on 130.63-acre land on government farm area in Attari, Lucknow, at an estimated cost of Rs 266.70 crore. The Lucknow facility is among five seed parks proposed to be developed in a phased manner in five out of UP's nine climatic zones. These would be named after former Prime Minister late Chaudhary Charan Singh. These parks, equipped with cutting-edge facilities for seed production, processing, storage, speed breeding and hybrid research, are set to revolutionize the seed sector in UP. This proposal among others was approved in a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday. The Lucknow seed park would provide direct employment to nearly 1,200 people, indirect jobs to 3,000 while around 40,000 farmers would benefit from the development of this facility, said agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi, adding the seed park would lead to an increase of seed replacement ratio and increase income of farmers. He said the replacement of seed leads to an increase in production by about 15-20% While the Lucknow seed park is being developed in the central zone, the other four would come up in the western, Terai, eastern and Bundelkhand zones. Work on allocation of land for the seed park has begun and work for its development is likely to be completed in the next two years, said Shahi. The minister said the seed parks - to be developed on land of agriculture universities/ farmland areas of agriculture department in 150-200-acre area - would help achieve the objective of making UP a trillion-dollar economy. The land to develop these parks would be given to seed producing companies on 30-year lease, extendable up to 90 years, and with the development of seed parks, the state would be able to provide seeds to other states as well, he added. Shahi said out of a demand of 70 lakh quintal seeds, the state was producing only 46 lakh quintal while the rest was coming from other states. Of a total requirement of seeds of about Rs 6500-Rs 7000 crore, UP gets seeds worth Rs 3000 crore from other states....