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The Seed & Biotech Industry:
Past, Present & Future
By
M Prabhakar Rao
President, NSAI
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Phenomenal Progress in Agriculture
 India made phenomenal progress in agricultural sector in the
post-independent era.
 Food grain production increased from a mere 50 million
tonnes to over 227 million tones in the last six decades.
 Production increased by 11 times in Wheat, 4 times in Rice.
 Cotton production increased by 11 times.
 Oil seed production increased by 5 times.
 Though production index (total food produced per land area)
has risen considerably, the food index (food produced per
person) has not increased proportionately.
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Agriculture Production & Quality Seed
Distribution
Year Food Grain Cotton Oil Seeds Quality
Production Production Production seeds
(million tonnes) (million bales (million distributed
tonnes) (lakh qtls)
1950-51 50.82 3.04 5.16 -
1960-61 82.02 5.60 6.98 -
1970-71 108.42 4.76 9.63 5.0
1980-81 129.59 7.01 9.37 35.0
1990-91 176.39 9.84 18.61 57.10
2000-01 195.92 9.65 18.40 85.44
2007-08 227.30 31.00 28.82 110.00
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Role of Seed Industry
 Seed sector made impressive progress over the last five decades.
 Quantity of quality seeds handled crossed 100 lakh qtls as against 1 lakh
qtls in the 60s
 Growth of food grain production and seed production happened
simultaneously, clearly establishing linkage between the two and
dependence of agricultural production on quality seed production and
availability.
 Seed is the only vehicle to carry superior genetics with high yield potential
and biotech traits to the farmer.
 Technology delivery to both small and big farmers through seed is the
most convenient and effective way (as compared to other productivity
enhancing inputs like fertilizers, irrigation etc).
 Seed offers “low cost - easy to deliver”, solutions for raising the crop
productivity.
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The establishment and growth of seed industry
 Seed Industry was primarily in public sector in 60’s and 70’s.
 From 70’s onwards, participation of private sector strengthened the
seed industry.
 In the beginning, public sector was instrumental in bringing in
hybrid seed production technology, seed certification systems, seed
processing, testing methods and quality control.
 Subsequently, private sector took over and made spectacular
progress in the supply of quality seed.
 Seed Industry in India has grown largely on Indigenous technology.
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The establishment and growth of seed industry (Contd...)
 Crop research institutes of the ICAR and the State Agricultural
Universities were sources of technology for the seed companies in
initial stages until 1980.
 Subsequently, several large private seed companies took up in-house
breeding activities and developed excellent hybrids in the crops like
Cotton, Maize, Jowar, Sunflowers, Bajra etc.
 The development of hybrids is largely based on indigenous
germplasm except in Corn and some vegetable crops.
 The Biotech traits like Bt Cotton were brought into India by the
private sector which contributed significantly to the yield increases
in cotton.
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Present Status
 There are two Govt. of India organizations ie., National Seeds
Corporation (NSC) and State Farms Corporation of India (SFCI)
and 14 State Seed Corporations (SSC).
 There are estimated to be 500 private seed companies operating at
various levels.
 Total value of seeds sold in India is estimated at Rs. 5,000 Crores.
 Private sector seed companies account for about 90% of the total
value of the seed distributed.
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Present Status
Contd…..
Hybrid Seeds
 In the several important crops hybrid seeds have contributed a lot in
improving yields, quality and pest / disease resistance.
S. No Crop % of hybrid seed Estimated Value
usage (Rs. In Crores)
1 Cotton 80 1870
2 Maize 55 690
3 Bajra 80 150
4 Sunflower 100 250
5 Rice 3 190
6 Veg crops like Chillies, Bhendi,
Tomato, Cabbage, Cauliflower, - 250
Brinjal
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Present Status
Contd…..
Extension activities taken up by the Seed Industry
 Seed companies take up extension of appropriate crop production
technologies particularly in case of hybrid seeds so that the farmers
harness the full genetic potential by adopting proper agronomic
practices.
Ex: (i) Bt Cotton – Closer spacing and increase of plant
population on account of change in the land architecture has
resulted in increase in productivity by 100 – 150%
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Present Status
Contd…..
Extension activities taken up by the Seed Industry
(ii) Hybrid Maize – High density planting, Yield increase up to 70-
100%
(iii)Hybrid Rice - Reduced seed rate (Also benefitting OPV users)
(iv)Hybrid Tomato - Staking for 4 – 5 time higher yields.
(v) Introduction of seed treatments in Cotton, Maize, Sunflower,
Bajra to provide ease of cultivation to the farmer.
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Future Thrust Areas in Agriculture
 The food grain production needs to be increased faster than the
demand, for the food security of the country.
 Technologies to produce crops with less water, less fertilizer and
other inputs is the need of the hour.
 Enhancing disease and pest tolerance to reduce application of
chemicals and minimizing production risks to the farmers.
 Breed crops to enable farmers practice sustainable agriculture.
 Technologies to reduce use of human labour and enable
mechanization in agriculture.
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Rice
 In Rice, increasing usage of hybrids from the present 3%
to a level of at least 25% can contribute an additional 25
million tones of Rice production.
 All the area under hybrids now is in Central part of the
country around Uttar Pradesh.
 The industry is working overtime to develop suitable Rice
hybrids for the South, East and Northern parts of the
country.
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Other Major Crops
 In crops like Wheat, Mustard, Redgram (Arhar) also there
is potential to develop hybrids and industry is spending
huge financial and human resources for breeding hybrids
in these crops which may be launched in the next few
years.
 The Introduction of the hybrids in these crops can
enhance the yields @ 10% per annum.
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Impact of Biotechnology
 The introduction of Bt Cotton in India has seen the
cotton production increased from 140 Lakh bales to 310
Lakh bales in five years.
 India is poised to become the largest cotton producer in
the world surpassing China in the next 5 years.
 There are several technologies that can revolutionize
agricultural production impacting other major crops like
Maize, Soybean, Rice etc.
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Current Research in Biotechnology
 There are several technologies which are mostly addressing pest and
disease problems at various stages of development which are likely
to make a great impact on Indian agriculture.
Biotech Crops under regulatory process in India, 2007
S. No Crop Organization Transgene
IARI, New Delhi cry1Aa and cry1Aabc
Sungrow Seeds Ltd, New Delhi cry1Ac
Mahyco, Mumbai cry1Ac
1 Brinjal TNAU, Coimbatore
2 Cabbage Nunhems India Pvt Ltd cry1Ba and cry1Ca
Directorate of Oilseeds Research
(DOR),
3 Castor Hyderabad cry1Aa and cry1Ec
Cauliflowe Sungro Seeds Ltd, New Delhi cry1Ac, cry1Ba and cry1Ca
4 r Nunhems India Pvt Ltd cry1Ac, cry1Ba and cry1Ca
cry1Ab gene (MON 810 event)
5 Corn Monsanto, Mumbai Herbicide resistance
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Current Research in Biotechnology
Biotech Crops under regulatory process in India, 2007
S. No Crop Organization Transgene
6 Groundnut ICRISAT, Hyderabad chitinase gene from rice (Rchit)
7 Okra Mahyco, Mumbai cry1Ac, cry2Ab
Central Potato Research Institute
8 Potato (CPRI), Shimla RB gene derived from Solanum bulbocastanum
IARI, New Delhi cry1B-cry1Aa fusion gene
Mahyco, Mumbai cry1Ac, cry2Ab
9 Rice TNAU, Coimbatore rice chitinase (chi11) or tobacco osmotin gene
antisense replicase gene of tomoto leaf curl
IARI, New Delhi virus
10 Tomato Mahyco, Mumbai cry1Ac
11 Cotton MMBL, Mumbai RR Flex for herbicide resistance
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Future Biotech technologies
 Agri biotech technologies under various stages of development
globally that would impact Indian agriculture.
c) Crops resistant to drought and other environmental stresses like
salinity
d) Crops engineered for Nitrogen use efficiency.
e) Crops engineered to produce pharmaceuticals such as vaccines and
anti biotics.
f) Crops engineered for industrial uses like enhanced starch content,
useful enzymes, higher biofuel efficacy.
g) Crops with Nutritional enhancement.
h) Crops with herbicide resistance for enabling low till / mechanized
agriculture
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The Industry Views
 There is a great potential for raising productivity of all the
major crops in India.
 Seed industry can contribute substantially towards this
goal by not only providing quality seeds but also through
extension of production techniques.
 The cost benefit ratio on the money spent on seeds is very
high as compared to the other options for raising crop
productivity like fertilizers, irrigation etc.
 Seed prices in India are reasonable and affordable to the
farmers and therefore there is no necessity for Govt.
intervention. 18

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What the Govt. can do
 The research and extension efforts of the seed companies
need to be recognized and encouraged by the Govt.
 Launching of technology mission to encourage R&D,
enhance seed production and distribution.
 To devise Seed Crop Insurance Scheme to cover the risk
of seed growing farmers taking into consideration various
aspects of seed productions.
 Establishment of Seed Banks.
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The support sought by seed industry
 Grant of infrastructure status to seed industry.
 Availability of soft loans for capital investment and
working capital.
 Creation of a corpus fund for acquiring agri
biotechnologies globally and make them available to the
farmers by distributing / licensing through the seed
companies.
 Inclusion of labelled seeds of the private sector seed
companies in centrally sponsored seed distribution
schemes of Govt. of India
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The support sought by seed industry Contd..
 Extending production and distribution subsidies to the
private sector for their privately bred varieties / hybrids.
 Creation of enabling environment for the seed industry to
grow and perform.
NSAI through its members is set to achieve
much needed growth in Agri-Productivity for
the benefit of millions of Indian Farmers and
to ensure Nation’s Food Security.
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THANK YOU
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