Indian Seed Industry: Poised for a leap to help farmers in doubling their income

Seed is the basic unit and most critical input for sustainable agriculture.  Post sowing impact and production depends on seed quality. Availability of quality seed is either very costly or very difficult to arrange. Farmers can be seen queued in Kisan Mela and seed sale centres for purchase of quality seed. This seen provides an opportunity for farmers to grow crop for seed production which can fetch them more returns. Prime Minister’s call to double the farmer’s income by 2022 can be a materialized dream for farmers if they opt for State Specific Strategies for Doubling of Farmers Income-2022 Seed contribute approximately 15-20 in different crops production that can be increased to 45% by efficient input management.The developments in the seed industry in India, particularly in the last 30 years, are very significant. Govt policies are giving dividend to Indian farmers. The policy gave access to Indian farmers of the best of seed and planting material available anywhere on the world.  The policy stimulated appreciable investments by private individuals, Indian Corporate and MNCs in the Indian seed sector with strong R&D base for product development in each of the seed companies with more emphasis on high value hybrids of cereals and vegetables and hi-tech products such as Bt. Cotton.  As a result, farmer has a wide product choice and seed industry today is set to work with a ‘farmer centric’ approach and is market driven.  However, there is an urgent need for the State Seed Corporations also to transform themselves in tune with the industry in terms of infrastructure, technologies, approach and the management culture to be able to survive in the competitive market and to enhance their contribution in the national endeavour of increasing food production to attain food & nutritional security.