Agricultural

Communication

Biosci. Biotech. Res. Comm. 9(4): 621-624 (2016)

Role of seed and its technological innovations in Indian

agricultural sector

Asif A. Ali

District Seed Certi cation Of cer Amravati, Maharshtra State Seed Certi cation Agency, Department of

Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of Masharashtra, Amravati 444602 MS India

ABSTRACT

For sustainable agriculture, a good quality seed is the most basic and essential input. Other inputs are contingent upon

quality of seed for being optimally effective. The Indian seed industry has played a very critical role in the growth of

Indian agricultural. Agriculture in India is backed by a strong seed improvement programme involving both the pub-

lic and private sectors. The Indian seed sector is highly vibrant and energetic and is well recognized internationally.

Seed is the basic and most critical input for sustain agriculture. The response of all other input depends on quality

of seeds to a large extent. It is estimated that the direct contribution of quality seed alone to the total production is

about 15-20% depending upon the crop and it can be further raised up to 45% with ef cient management of other

inputs. The developments in the seed industry in India, particularly in the last 30 years, are very signi cant. Future

of agricultural production will largely depend upon development of improved varieties/ hybrids in various crops,

supported by ef cient, cost effective seed production technology.

KEY WORDS: SEED, DEVELOPMENT, IMPROVEMENT, PROGRAMS, AGRICULTURE

621

ARTICLE INFORMATION:

*Corresponding Author: asifatharali@gmail.com

Received 10

Nov, 2016

Accepted after revision 16

Dec, 2016

BBRC Print ISSN: 0974-6455

Online ISSN: 2321-4007

Thomson Reuters ISI ESC and Crossref Indexed Journal

NAAS Journal Score 2015: 3.48 Cosmos IF : 4.006

reserved.

Online Contents Available at: http//www.bbrc.in/

INTRODUCTION

The agriculture is backbone of rural economy. Agricul-

ture in India has made signi cant growth and we are

on the path of second green revolution through mod-

ern agriculturical technology. For sustainable agricul-

ture, a good quality seed is the most basic and essential

input. Other inputs are contingent upon quality of seed

for being optimally effective. The Indian seed industry

has played a very critical role in the growth of Indian

agricultural. Agriculture in India is backed by a strong

seed improvement programme involving both the pub-

lic and private sectors. The Indian seed sector is highly

vibrant and energetic and is well recognized internation-

ally. Our diverse agro-climatic conditions are conducive

for producing high quality seed of tropical, temperate and

622 ROLE OF SEED AND ITS TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Asif A. Ali

sub-tropical plant varieties. Our seed processing/condi-

tioning industry has perfected post harvest techniques

for quality up-gradation and maintenance to ensure high

standards and quality of seeds. According to the recent

report, the Indian seeds industry grew at a Compound

Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.4 percent in volume terms from

FY 2009 to FY 2015 to reach 3.5 million tonnes in con-

sumption. Double-digit growth for Indian seed industry.

Similarly, TechNavio’s analysts forecast the Hybrid Seeds

market in India to grow at a CAGR of 14.1 percent during

the period 2014-2019 (ICRA 2015 and TechNavio (2015).

Indian agriculture has earmarked signi cant

advances and the seed industry has played a key role

in this endeavor. The challenges confronting seed sec-

tor are now more than even before due to demand of

quality seed of promising varieties to ensure food secu-

rity. During recent past, seed technology has emerged as

potent tool to achieve targeted agricultural production.

India has one of the largest public National Agriculture

Research System (NARS) in the world. (Wais Kabir Ibra-

him Md. Saiyed SAARC Agriculture Centre, 2011)

The country is also a biodiversity hotspot. India’s

food, nutritional, livelihood and socio-economic secu-

rity depends largely upon agriculture and land resources.

This situation is not likely to change in the near future.

The production of hybrid seeds is to a large extent the

prerogative of the private sector. Of all improved cuti-

vars bred and marketed by private companies until

1993, nearly 70% were hybrids. Since hybrid seeds can

not be multiplied in farmers’  elds, they must be bought

from the company every time they are raised. This high

seed replacement rate ensures  rms good sales. That is

not the case with high yielding varieties of crops like

wheat or rice, for which the replacement rate  uctuates

between 9 and 14%.Apart from hybrids, the private sec-

tor is also largely involved in the commercialization of

low volume, high value crops such as vegetable seeds.

With some 500 companies of various sizes, 24 of which

with links to multinationals, the private sector con-

tributes a little less than 50% of the commercial seed

requirement for the country today, (Agritex 2016).

Future of agricultural production will largely depend

upon development of improved varieties/ hybrids in

various crops, supported by ef cient, cost effective seed

production technology. Without good seed, investment

like fertilizer, water, pesticides and other input will not

pay the desired dividends, (Lal 2008).

Scienti cally speaking, seed is an “embryo”, a living

organism embedded in supporting the food storage tis-

sue. An improved seed is a most dynamic instrument for

increasing agriculture production and also economical

input. The fact that a genetically pure seed alone could

increase crop production by 20 percent and provide

resistance against several menace states the importance

of this basic input in agriculture. In order to face the

challenges of the international seed trade vis-à-vis to

ensure the availability of quality seed to Indian farmer,

there is urgent need that the Indian scientist, policy

makers, seed quality regulators and public and private

sector seed producers may join their hands to make India

a seed hub on global map.

The growing population of India along with its

changing food habits needs around 130 million tonnes

of rice by 2025. Seed is the basic and critical input in

crop production. The increase in rice production can be

achieved through quality seeds. With an extensive and

rich agricultural genetic resource base, coupled with the

associated knowledge and cheap labour India provides a

fertile ground for the seed production. The Indian seed

industry, which used to be dominated by public sector

seed companies, has shown an appreciable rise in the

role of private sector seed companies in seed develop-

ment and marketing de-regulation and the implementa-

tion of a New Seed Policy in 1988. More recently, the

government’s decision to embrace the biotechnology as

a means of achieving food security has attracted sev-

eral leading biotechnology-focused multinational seed

companies to India. The composition of seed industry,

by volume of turnover, has reputedly reached a ratio of

60:40 between the private and public sectors.

Seed is the basic and most critical input for sustain

agriculture. The response of all other input depends on

quality of seeds to a large extent. It is estimated that

the direct contribution of quality seed alone to the total

production is about 15-20% depending upon the crop

and it can be further raised up to 45% with ef cient

management of other inputs. The developments in the

seed industry in India, particularly in the last 30 years,

are very signi cant, ( NSC 2012).

Coupled with biotechnology and other crop improve-

ment technologies, seed offer tremendous opportunity

for improving the productivity of Indian Agriculture. In

the signi cant advances that India made in agriculture

in the last four decades, the role of the seed sector has

been substantial. The expansion of seed industry has

occurred in parallel with growth with in agricultural

productivity. Given the fact that sustain growth to cope

with increasing demand would depend more and more

on the pace of development and adoption of innovative

technologies, the seed would continue to be a vital com-

ponent for decades to come.

A robust seed system guarantees the sustainability

of its agriculture to ensure that the products of modern

plant breeding and local farmer ingenuity are widely

available. National seed system usually include several

elements. A commercial seed sector is necessary to ensure

ef cient seed supply. Both the public and private seed

systems are relatively well developed in India; hence the

BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS ROLE OF SEED AND ITS TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT 623

Asif A. Ali

possibilities of delivering plant-breeding innovations to

farmers are better. An unanswered question however is:

how to resource–poor farmers react to a complex com-

mercial seed provision system?

Recent innovations in adaptive and participatory

research go a long way in addressing the  rst con-

cern, but much remains to be done regarding seed sys-

tem diagnosis. Even in a relatively mature seed system

such as the Indian one, the movement of information

between farmers and seed providers leaves much room

for improvement. Seeds secure farmers to tend to main-

tain their own varieties with limited in ux of new vari-

eties. In addition, awareness about variety selection is

not always well developed in traditional farming com-

munities. It may also re ect the fact that in traditional

self-contained seed systems, the same genetic material

may be easily available from neighbors, thus reducing

the risk of seed procurement and accesses.

Further, seed industry is in the process of rapid change

in post WTO era in view of important changes: (1) chang-

ing technologies and legislations, (2) restrictions on free

exchange of germplasm and (3) introduction of trans-

genic crops. Again, spiralling food prices, climate change

issues and the importance of agriculture in economic

growth has provoked a renewed interest for investment

to develop commercially viable innovative seed technolo-

gies, in order to provide value added seeds for wide range

of environments is recognized to be a critical step for the

development of agriculture production and productivity.

Future of agricultural production will largely depend

upon development of improved varieties/hybrids in vari-

ous crops, supported by ef cient, cost effective seed pro-

duction technology. Diversi cation of areas of seed pro-

duction and development of appropriate seed production

technology needs to be focused for expansion of seed pro-

duction system in the country. Identi cation of alterna-

tive/ speci c areas for quality seed production and map-

ping of disease free seed production zones may go long

way in popularizing seed production technologies in non-

traditional areas. Under AICRP-NSP, alternative areas were

identi ed for hybrid seed production of rice, sun ower,

sorghum and pearl millet, which shall help in horizon-

tal expansion quality seed production per se. Promoting

local seed enterprises to address global food security :

Success stories from Africa, Asia and Latin America and

other developing nations have been reported by FAO (2016)

SEED TESTING AND DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAMS

Traditionally seed production programs in India have

remained labour intensive and most of the seed produc-

tion activities handled by skilled and unskilled labours.

Farm mechanization may provide answer to the shortage

of skilled workers during crucial period of  eld prepa-

ration, intercultural operations and harvesting thereby

increasing ef ciency and reducing mechanical damage

to seed. Perpetuation and conservation of traditional

varieties in seed chain through community seed systems

and establishment of seed village banks to serve farm-

ing community in times of natural calamities like  ood,

drought, cyclone and disease and pest epidemic. Revis-

ing certi cation standards to meet current needs and

harmonization of these standards as per international

norms, so that Indian seed market curves its own niche

in international seed trade under the backdrop of OECD

scheme of seed certi cation and UPOV convention.

Priority need to be given for standardization of

appropriate invigoration protocols as well as seed coat-

ing and pelleting technologies, for enhancing planting

value and storability of high value and poor storer seeds.

Seed quality enhancement through second generation

drying, packing and quality enhancement technologies

viz. intelligent coating molecules, time & target oriented

seed additives, electron treatment, magnetic treatment,

plasma coating and its commercial application holds

the promise to deliver seeds with high vigour and bet-

ter adaptability to biotic stress for external as well as

internal designing of seeds will increase ef ciency of

delivery system, (Copeland and McDonald2001).

Seed Testing is the art of science of evaluating seed

quality for agricultural purpose. Although initially

developed for evaluating the planting quality of  eld

and vegetable seeds, it is also valuable for determin-

ing the quality of lawn,  ower and tree seeds (Copeland

and Mc Donald, 2001). The Expression seed quality is

used loosely to re ect the overall value of seed for its

intended purpose. Seed quality is usually a composite of

several factors, all of which contribute to the desirability,

or planting value of the seed. The key question is “why

do we test seeds? There are several reasons. First, and

most obvious, is that the dry seed’s potential to establish

a seedling cannot be determined until the seed has been

germinated. However, we also test seeds to determine

the genetic (varietal) and mechanical (weed / other crop

) components of the seed lot. Seed testing results provide

important information to both the seed producer and

purchaser. The seed producer wants to ensure that only a

quality product is marketed so that consumer will return

for their future seed needs.

During the past four decades of seed testing in India,

the number of seed samples analyzed in various seed

testing laboratories has considerably been increased.

However, desired level of perfection in seed testing has

yet to be achieved. Additional laboratories in private/

public sector are in the process of establishment to cater

the need of seed testing for increased seed production

targets. Most of the laboratories in India are either ill

624 ROLE OF SEED AND ITS TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Asif A. Ali

equipped or without adequate infrastructural facilities

and trained manpower resources. Hence, in order to train

the Human resources and equipping all the laboratories,

Govt. of India, Ministry of Agriculture, Department of

Agriculture and Co-operation, Quality Control Wing

giving more emphasis by providing required funds for

the SSTLs and training the personnel who are involved

in the Seed Quality Control Laboratories. Besides at least

one laboratory of public sector in each and every state

should obtain ISTA membership to getting accreditation

for movement of seed in international market.

In view of the globalization of seed trade, it would be

desirable to update the seed testing rules and procedures

in conformity to the international level. It is so far newly

private Seed Testing Laboratories in India is accredited

with ISTA. The importers from various countries like

America, Europe and Australia, etc., insist for this certif-

icate. Seed producers who want to have their seed tested

have to be sure that the results produced are reliable

and re ect the true quality of the seed to be sold. These

results are in uenced by many factors, such as compe-

tence of analysts, use of appropriate equipment, use of

validated methods, accurate recording and reporting, etc.

Accreditation is a process through which a laboratory’s

technical competence is veri ed through assessment by

an experienced audit team against established audit cri-

teria. Factors that in uence the test results are subjected

to assessment to verify if these criteria are met. Criteria

are formulated in the ISTA Accreditation Standard which

is based on the internationally agreed generic accredi-

tation standard for testing and calibration laboratories

ISO/IEC 17025 Standard.

Seed is a wonder in this universe, though it looks tiny,

it encapsulates the life for the future progeny, it encap-

sulates the inherited Characters and it posses the vigor

and viability to establish. Seed is the vital basic input in

agriculture for ensuring increased yield and quality. Use

of good quality seed alone ensures a 20% increased yield

apart from other inputs.

Seed certi cation is a process designed to maintain

and make available to the general public continuous sup-

ply of high quality seeds and propagating materials of

noti ed kinds and varieties of crops, so grown and dis-

tributed to ensure the physical identity and genetic purity.

This objective paved the way for the developments in the

seed industry in India, particularly in the last 30 years

which enables the supply of good quality seeds to the

farmer. Seed certi cation of feed and fodder crops in hilly,

coastal and arid zones need to be undertaken on prior-

ity basis. Normalization of seeds certi cation standards

should be given priority, because of increased importance

of fodder seed in global trade. Facilitating validation of

standards for OECD certi cation to promote our hybrids/

varieties especially SARRC countries.

CONCLUSION

In summary, the Indian Seed Development Programme

has now occupied a pivotal place in Indian agriculture

and is well poised for substantial growth in the future.

National Seeds Corporation, which is the largest single

seed organization in the country with such a wide prod-

uct range, has pioneered the growth and development

of a sound seed industry in India. NSC, SFCI, States

Seeds Corporations and other seed producing agencies

both private and government backed are continuously

and gradually expanding all their academic research

industrial and social activities especially in terms

of product range, volume and value of seed handled,

level of seed distribution to the un-reached areas espe-

cially the poor farmers with quality seeds. Hard work

of these seed producing agencies have built up a hard

core of competent and experienced seed producers and

seed dealers in various parts of the country and have

adequate level of specialization and competence in han-

dling and managing various segments of seed improve-

ment on scienti cally sound and commercially viable

terms.

REFERENCES

Agritex (2016): The Evolution of the Seed Industry in India

September 8th -10th , 2016 Hitex exhibition center, Hyderabad,

India

Asokan, S.R. and Chokshi, S.N. (1998) Challenges of Marketing

Seeds in India, Indian Journal of Agricultural Economy, Vol.

53, No.3, p. 376.

CopelandLO and McDonaldMB.(2001) Principles of seed science

and technology. 4th Edn. Copeland LO, McDonald MB. 2001.

Norwell, Massachusetts: Kluwer Academic Publishers

FAO (2016) Food and Agriculture Organization Rome: Sowing

the seeds of future technology Ed: PV Meley JW Bentley and

Robert G Guel FAO and Africa Rice

Lal B. (2008) Transfer and the Seed Innovation System in India

Presented in EU‐US Early Research Conference on Research

and Innovation Studies, STeHPS Universiteit of Twente, The

Netherlands During 1‐4th July, 2008

Kabir W and I M Saiyed (2011) SAARC Agriculture Centre,

2011 National Agricultural Research System (NARS) In SAARC

Countries - An Analysis Of System Diversity

NSC (2012) National Seeds Congress, December 21

to Dec 23rd

Organized by NSRTC Varanasi and CG SSC Agency Raipur CG

ISTA (2016) International Seed Testing Association Accredita-

tion Standard by ISO/IEC 17025 Standard.

ICRA (2015) Double-digit growth for Indian seed industry:New

DelhiAugust 17, 2015

March 18, 2015 TechNavio T Report (2015) Hybrid seeds mar-

ket in India2015-2019 SKU:IRTNTR5497