The Central Government is getting ready with a new Seeds Act making mandatory registration and quality certification of seeds of all varieties before being allowed into the market. A draft bill has been introduced in Parliament and it would be incorporated with this too, said Joint Secretary - Seeds, Rajesh Kumar Singh here on Wednesday.
“The registration and certification will have to be done before trials and it can be done at the State level or the national level. We are also going to link online with the State agriculture universities to make it easier for the industry to release the product into the market without much time lag after regulatory approval,” he said, at the workshop on international Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Seed Certification.
Mr. Singh, also the national designated authority for seeds certification, said the TS State Seeds and Organic Certification Agency (TSSOCA) and Rajasthan State Seeds and Organic Certification Authority (RSSOCA) had been made designated authorities for benchmarking OECD certification with the former catering to Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chattisgarh States too.
About 190 seeds varieties have been added to the OECD list and 42 more were in the pipeline. Obtaining OECD certification would help enable seed growers and firms to compete globally since India’s contribution on this front is minuscule although it is the fifth largest producer of seeds in the world.
The two-day workshop organised by the TSSOCA and the Union Agriculture Ministry had delegates from different States, research organisations, agriculture universities, seed corporations, certification agencies and others participating.
Earlier, TS Agriculture Minister P. Srinivas Reddy and Agriculture Secretary C. Parthasarathi highlighted the need for making it compulsory for seeds to be tested for quality. Mr. Reddy highlighted the problems faced by farmers due to supply of spurious seeds, especially chilly ,this year in Nalgonda, Khammam and Warangal districts.
The Government was forced to put seed manufacturers in jail. “If a farmer suffers losses, it is dangerous for the country’s food security,” he said and urged scientists to ponder over measures to make agriculture attractive and profitable to the youth as it would also help arrest urban migration.
Under Seed Village programme, 2048 villages involving 24,280 hectares and 60,000 farmers werechosen to ensure quality supply on Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s instructions and for his objective of making TS the “seed bowl” of the world.
Mr. Parthasarathi said ensuring international quality seeds supply would also improve farmers’ incomes and the Government was working on bringing out regulations to control supply of spurious seeds and act on the perpetrators. TSSOCA Director K. Keshavulu, National Seeds Corporation CMD V.K. Gaur, and Farm University Vice-Chancellor V. Praveen Rao spoke.
