kozhikode the new academic year has arrived with a sweet bonus for students of 31 schools in thrikaripur kasaragod hundreds of students are collecting mango seeds mango stones as part of a participatory conservation initiative and mango cultivation promotion programme for which they are set to earn some pocket moneyunder the project by regional agriculture research station rars pilicode of kerala agriculture university they will collect mango stones of indigenous varieties and earn rs 50 paisa for every seed rars hopes to collect around three lakh mango stones from these schools and has earmarked rs 15 lakh for the purpose they will also conduct a survey of indigenous mango varieties in their home gardens under the project and rars officials will later visit the home gardens to collect scions grafting material from trees the project aims to enlist students in promotion of mango cultivation and also conservation of indigenous mango varieties said vanaja t associate director of research rars pilicodeproject to get students interested in farmingthe exercise would also spur their interest in agriculture and also offer them a chance to earn pocket money by collecting mango stones the mango stones collected will be used to create a rootstock on which we would graft popular mango varieties and help promote mango cultivation in the region said vanajathe collected scions of native mango varieties meanwhile will be used for germplasm conservation several students have already made use of their summer vacations to collect mango stones rars will collect the mango stones from participating schools by june 30 the programme will be formally inaugurated at c krishnan nair memorial ghss pilicode on june 3we have set a cap of rs 15000 as incentive for a school which will be transferred to the pta fund the ptas can decide on how to use the money they can ei ther give it to students as pocket money or use it for a common purpose like helping a disadvantaged student vanaja saidselect students from each school will also be trained in budding and grafting while a graft seedling of alphonso mango will be given to each school