The Centre has suggested the State governments to go in for long-term seed supply arrangements with seed producers to lessen and prevent the menace of spurious seed.
The suggestion was made by Special Secretary in the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation Avinash K. Srivatsava here on Tuesday, during the inaugural session of the eighth National Seed Congress. Stating that seed was most critical input in agriculture, the official pointed out: “Normal grain was being sold in the name of ‘certified seed’ when the States call for short-term tenders for supply seed, when the demand goes up during a crop season”.
Mr. Srivatsava felt that entering long-term memorandum of understanding with seed producers could check the problem of spurious seed to a large extent. He emphasised the need for bridging gap between lab to land so that the benefits of research reached the farming community. There was no dearth of research in the country with over 100 ICAR institutions, 68 State and three Central Agricultural Universities, but the results should be translated to the field, he said. Telangana Minister for Agriculture Pocharam Srinivas Reddy said the State was seed bowl of the country already by meeting about 60 per cent of the demand and the government had plans to make it a global hub for seed production with the advantages of congenial weather and soil conditions. Stating that quality seed would play a key role in improving the yield and production of crops by 15-20 per cent, he said it could also prevent farmers from falling prey to distress to some extent.
He requested the delegates to deliberate issues that would benefit farmers and come out with suggestions to prevent such unnatural deaths. Secretary of Agriculture (Telangana) C. Parthasarathi suggested joint-marketing of public sector-bred hybrid seed in public-private-partnership within a regulatory framework keeping the interests of farmers in mind. Kent J. Bradford of University of California, president of National Seed Association of India M. Prabhakar Rao (Nuziveedu Seeds), G.V. Bhaskar Rao (Kaveri Seeds) and others spoke.
