Harmonization of Regulations for Better Governance of Indian Seed Sector

1. NATIONAL SEMINAR
Regulations &
Governance Issues in
Indian Seed Sector
Harmonization of Regulations
for Better Governance of the
Indian Seed Sector
Dr Swati Nayak
South Asia Lead- Seed Systems & Product
Management, IRRI
September 26, 2023
ICAR Lecture Hall,
Second Floor, NASC Complex,
Pusa, New Delhi

2. Current Challenges which impede sustainability in the seed
➢ Climate Change and lack in terms of access to localized resilient varieties
➢ Negligible stake for primary seed producers and also institutions led by them
➢ Fragmented Seed Sector and seed chain
➢ Lack of optimized seed rolling plans and timeliness
➢ Obsolete Varieties in cereal crops Seed Chain
➢ Poor breeder seed multiplication programs- poor diffusion of new genotypes from public sectors
➢ Seed Production through public channels is almost non-functional
➢ Poor SRR% and VRR% especially in resource-poor demographies
➢ Lack of technological interventions like seed traceability
➢ Sub-optimal Seed and Field Standards- weak seed certification programs result in seeds failing to meet
International Standards

3. Impact of poor seed regulation at different levels of the production chain
Farmers level
• Poor access
• SRR
• Varietal
turnover/adoption
Public Inst
• Poor SC facility /
staffing
• Quality testing
limited to agronomic
traits
• Lack of processing
infra
• Malpractice-old
+new stock
Pvt Inst
• Hybrid vs inbred
cost
• Traceability/branding
• Often chemistry is
bundled
• TL Seed/ credibility

4. Small &medium enterprises
SAU, DOA
Farmers Collectives
Individual
Large Companies
CBO
Corporations
WSHG
Seed Village
PUBLIC
INFORMAL/SE
MI FORMAL FORMAL
PRIVATE
Quality Issues, Capacity deficit, Scaling constraints
Seed Scaling Ecosystem in India
Small Cooperatives
Sustainabilit
y/ viability
issues?
Strong
delivery,
market
intelligence,
TL/Credibility
, traceability,
hybrid vs
inbred
Weak
forward
linkages,
poor market
intelligence,
inventory or
demand
planning

5. Reform Agenda for informal seed sector
Needs access to product choice, regulatory ease and market supports
Landscaping
Product Infrastructure
Who are the producers:
Farmers collectives—SHG,
FPOs, APC etc, Individual
growers
Huge investment for
processing unit—a major
bottleneck. Grant can be
helpful
Widened choice of new crops
and cultivars-EGS
decentralization, hedging
SEED EXTENSION
1
2
4
5
Certification Market
Informal seed production is
often by many farmers,
making certification costly
and tedious. Collective
certification
Support for markets—
Buyback, DBT for seeds sold
by informal sector
3 6
Ease of licensing to allow
production and sales of
seeds—currently lengthy
Licensing
Rigorous Capacity building and skill based trainings

6. Capacity development of the informal seed sector
➢ Establishing liaison and support systems for Farmer groups like FPO, FPCs, and NGOs.
➢ Special attention towards Women’s rural entrepreneurship
➢ Sourcing linkage of foundation seeds of high quality.
➢ Providing educational training related to optimum seed production, storage, handling, and
marketing.
➢ Extending technological supports related to farm mechanization, storage facilities, and Seed
processing (graders, cleaners, etc.).
➢ Pipeline development with new and improved lines, which have special traits and competitive.
➢ Training related to maintaining seed genetic purity, vigor, and viability and seed health
➢ Development of alternative marketing channels

7. Key Policy Thrusts
➢ Develop a National Seed Register and data base for varietal fitment and targeted varietal positioning and
seed planning
➢ Harmonize licensing, rules, and guidelines between the states and to overcome existing discrepancies
and complications responsible for slow adoptions.
➢ Digitizing indenting processes for transparent and efficient demand aggregation for better market
intelligence and inventory planning
➢ Decentralizing breeder seed production and provisioning
➢ Robust compensation policies for farmers for poor quality seed supply
➢ Incentivization support for alternative farmer led seed institutions – in terms quality control measures
and certification, marketing channels, buy back, DBT etc
➢ Digital seed traceability
➢ Making seed health an essential thrust area in quality certification
➢ Seed morphological factors along with agronomic parameters (image analysis )

8. Opportunities to strengthen the seed sector in India
Strengthened
Seed Sector
Decentralised
EGS
Digitization
Seed Export
Market driven
breeding/
product
placement Alternative seed
systems and
capacity,
Alternative
Marketing
mechanism
QC in small &
medium scale
initiatives

9. Thank You