Key Note Address By Shri Sharad Pawar Union Minister Of Agriculture And Consumers Affairs, Food And Public Distribution On The Occasion Of National Seeds Congress

upon a large and wide agenda particularly plant breeding, varietal maintenance, quality assurance, transgenics,  farmers rights, movement of seed in international trade, public- private participation etc. I urge the Prof. K. V, Thomas, Minister of State for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri T. Nanadakumar, Secretary, Agriculture, Dr. S. Ayyappan,  DG, ICAR, Distinguished Scientists, officials, participants, invitees, press and media personnel, ladies and gentlemen

2.      I am happy to be here at the Inauguration of the National Seed Congress. I take note of the participation of the key stakeholders in the seed sector in this Conference from different parts of the country for deliberations and discussions on a vital and integrated sector such as seed. These deliberations cannot be meaningful without the varied stakeholder participation that we see today.
3.      The focus of the Conference on Quality Seed For Improved Livelihood And Profitability  is very  topical and appropriate. I note that the Conference will deliberate organisers and participants of the Conference to work to arrive at clear recommendations and concrete outcomes on each of these issues in their deliberations which can then serve as inputs for planning and implementation.

4.      I would like to compliment the organizers on the very appropriate timing of the Seed Congress when the whole world is seriously concerned with the challenges posed by the demands of the rising population and supply constraints, including deteriorating production environments due to the growing threat of global warming and climate change. The world population is expected to increase from 6.5 billion in 2010 to 9.1 billion in 2050. India’s population alone increased from 551 million to 1150 million during the last three and a half decades (1973-2009) Further, the threat of climate change and its impact on agriculture is going to be real. Reports suggest that by 2025 crop yields will drop by anything between 20 and 40 percent due to rise in temperatures in some parts of the world. This will constitute a real challenge for the agricultural scientists, planners and policymakers at the global and national levels.

5.      For agriculture to provide sustainable food security and economic development in the context of current and future global challenges we need to consider all the options and alternatives available and develop appropriate strategies for the future.

6.      We cannot but over-emphasis the critical role of new plant varieties and high quality seed in providing a dynamic and sustainable agriculture through yield increase, resistance to biotic stresses, tolerance to abiotic stresses, harvest security, quality traits including nutritional value, etc. The Second World Seed Conference held at Rome in September 2009 confidently acknowledged that plant breeding has the ability to significantly contribute in solutions to several of the challenges ahead to increase food security and significantly mitigate the effects of population growth, climate change and other social and physical challenges.  

7.      The key to success in this sector is undoubtedly SEED SECURITY: that is the availability of the appropriate variety at the right place and time, in sufficient quantity and quality. Therefore, governments need to develop and maintain an enabling environment to encourage plant breeding and the production and distribution of high quality seed. Increased public and private investment in the seed sector is required for the long term if agriculture is to meet the challenges of food security. 

8.      The farmer today faces diverse ecological conditions. To enable his growth through higher productivity,  the seed sector should endeavor to be consistently guided by four major breeding goals. 

1. First to develop varieties of all maturities from ultra early to ultra late
2. Second, to provide varieties that will perform well in major production areas, across seasons and circumstances be it drought or flood or any other contingency.
3. Third, is to develop  varieties with sound agronomic traits; and
4. Last but not the least to pay particular attention to small scale farmers’ needs 

9.      It is important to continually improve plant breeding but equally imperative to assess varietal replacement and address causes of poor or negligible replacement.  In several developing countries, now facing a food crisis, farmers do not readily adopt new improved varieties thus getting deprived of the benefits of the new products. This could be attributed to several reasons. Poor extension coverage, lack of awareness of varietal characteristics, lack of physical availability, poor access to credit and constraints of under developed market. We have to make efforts to address all these limiting factors and ensure that the benefits of new varietal regimes reach the farming communities.

10.    In a situation where the challenge is to continue increasing productivity, the future opportunities presented by modern Biotechnology to enhance plant breeding are immense.  It has been aptly summarized that this will require Global Science, Global Scale and Global Talent.   Comparison of US yields to other yields in the world is a clear pointer to advantages of bio-technology.    We need to harness effective use of modern biotechnology and molecular breeding and associated methods for attaining increased production and productivity.
11.    Apart from genetic enhancement, other technologies related to quality seed production and quality enhancement techniques contribute substantially to improved seeds. Capacity building in all these areas has been supported by the Government and will continue to be a priority area.  Simultaneously the establishment and maintenance of an appropriate infrastructure on the scientific as well as technical level is considered important.

12.    Seed policy impacts on the development of the seed industry in particular and agriculture in general. A transparent and efficient regulatory system is crucial to ensure that farmers have access to high quality seed at a reasonable price. Indian seed is governed by an extensive well laid down legal and regulatory framework where the legislative space is occupied by the Government of India in the interest of interstate trade and commerce in the commodity. The Seed Bill 2004 has been already been introduced by the Government to upgrade the legal provisions in keeping with the developments and dynamism in the sector.  

13.    Here I must emphasis that  public and the private sector have an important role to play to meet the challenges ahead. We need to recognize the benefits in developing complementarity and synergy between the two sectors. The Indian Sub-Continent and South East Asia are considered to have experienced a higher growth rate in agriculture mainly because of the good cooperation between the public and private sectors. Government is interested to develop appropriate policies and investment-friendly legal and regulatory framework to facilitate private sector investment in the seed and agro-industries.The Indian seed industry used to be dominated by public sector seed companies. However, following the easing of government regulations and the implementation of a new seed policy in 1988, the private sector seed companies have started playing a major role in seed development and marketing. More recently, the government’s decision to embrace biotechnology as a means of achieving food security has attracted several leading biotechnology-focused multinational seed companies to India. The composition of the seed industry, by volume of turnover, has reportedly reached a ratio of 60:40 between the private and public sectors.   A cohesive network of Indian seed industry working in a public and private partnership mode, both among themselves and with related organizations, is our strength.

14.    Global seed market has grown rapidly in recent years and is currently estimated at about 37 billion US dollars.India is ranked  6th with a market size of 1,300 million US dollars.   The New Policy on Seed Development of 1988 has stimulated major growth in the industry as it attracted a lot of investment in seed business from seed companies. Given the growth of the seed sector in recent years, India has the potential to become the foremost player in the seed export business in the developing world with prospective markets in Asia, Africa and South America. But India’s present share is less is than 2% in the international market. I hope that with our enabling environment the seed trading export share will increase and we must look to achieve at least 10% share.

15.    In this context, it is necessary to capitalize on our key strengths. As you are aware, an important factor attracting international seed companies to India is the country’s varied agro climatic conditions and abundant skilled and unskilled labor. Bangalore for vegetables and Hyderabad for field crops have emerged as important hubs for seed production and have shown the way for other to follow. The initial focus of many of the companies has been cottonseed, for which genetically modified (Bt) hybrids have already been approved by the Indian government for commercial cultivation, with other bio-engineered crops in the pipeline. Virtual seed valleys have come up in several parts of the country and offer a platform to mature into good and sustainable zones for export of seeds.  

16.    Participation in internationally harmonized systems like International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), OECD, UPOV and ISTA is an important means for countries to increase the availability of germplasm, new plant varieties and high quality seed. The multilateral system of access and benefit sharing will help us to respond better to challenges ahead. In this context, India became a member of OECD Seed Schemes on varietal certification in 2008 for enhancing the movement of seed in international trading. India is also a member of ITPGRFA, which is a comprehensive treaty with objectives of conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. India has ratified the Treaty in June 2002. Not many of you may be aware that during 2008-2009, the Secretariat of ITPGRA invited proposals from Contracting Parties of the Treaty under the Benefit Sharing fund for the first time. The proposal of Peermade Development Society, from Kerala, an NGO, earned the distinction of being selected for financial assistance of US $ 50000 for the biennial cycle 2008-09. I am also happy to note that NSRTC Varanasi which is the Central Seed Testing Laboratory has become a member of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), Zurich and soon this Laboratory will obtain ISTA accreditation also.

17.  The world has witnessed a revolution of information and communication technologies and our farmer too deserve to be benefited from it. A communication system that provides information about agricultural policies, markets and weather, credit and crop insurance services is important. Knowledge has to be synergized at the village level through "farm knowledge centres" in which Panchayati Raj institutions can play a critical role. In this regard, the India Development Gateway Portal of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology could be used extensively for dissemination of information to all our villages. Similarly, I am happy to note that in the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, the Seeds division has already launched a SeedNet Portal where the seed related information is available online. 

18.    Let us remember that farmers are at large becoming more specific in their demands for farm inputs. This has been brought about by the hostile environments they have to operate under and the need to achieve higher operational efficiency if they have to attain economic viability. The seed industry has the task of packaging the farmers’ specific needs both in terms of product and information. The seed industry has to provide adequate information on the performance of products under a wide range of ecological environments. “Putting Farming first” is the recommended approach that starts by focusing on farmers and the tools and information they need to steward their land, grow crops and  get their produce to the market.

19.    I once again compliment the National Seed Research and Training Center and Division of Seed Science and Technology, IARI and all those associated in organizing this Congress. Also I trust that the National Seed Congress will provide an excellent forum to all the participants for meaningful discussions on current issues and future challenges in agriculture particularly in the seed sector.

20.    I have great pleasure to inaugurate the National Seed Congress with the major theme on “Quality Seed for Improved Livelihood and Profitability” and I welcome all of you to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Delhi. 

I wish the Seed Congress a grand success and declare it open

Thank you