The Seed Industry

Let’s begin with a simple but profound idea:

“Seed is the embryo of agriculture. If the seed is weak, no amount of water, fertiliser or care can transform it into a strong harvest.”

Hence, improving seed quality is the first step towards food security. And India, with its vast agricultural base, is today the fifth-largest seed market in the world.

📈 Current Status of Seed Industry

• India’s seed industry was valued at US$ 7 billion by 2022.
• Projected to reach USD 19 billion by 2033, with a CAGR of 10.5%. Read More
• India is targeting a $1.4 billion share of the global seed export market by 2028.
• The major share comes from non-vegetable seeds like:
  • Cereals: Paddy (rice), Wheat, Sorghum, Millets
  • Oilseeds: Sunflower
  • Commercial crops: Cotton, Corn

🚜 Importance of Seeds

• Quality seed alone can contribute up to 45% of total productivity, if supported with good management of water, fertilisers, and crop protection.

⚠️ Challenges in the Seed Sector: A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective

We can understand the issues better by examining each major stakeholder:
Seed Companies, Government, and Farmers.

🏭 1. Seed Companies

• Low R&D Investment: Private seed firms invest just 3–4% of their revenue in research — far below the global standard of 10–12%.

Why so?

• Weak Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection.
• Ambiguity around licensing terms discourages innovation.

Imagine you design a new car, but there are no patents to protect it. Tomorrow, someone else copies it and sells it cheaper. That’s the current situation with GM (Genetically Modified) seeds in India.

• Monopoly over GM Technology: A few players — particularly in Bt Cotton — dominate the market, creating dependence and limiting competition.
• Regulatory Action:
  • In 2024, 149 legal cases were filed and 266 seed dealer licenses suspended for selling substandard seeds.

🏛️ 2. Government

• Regulatory Gaps:
  • Illegal sales of unapproved GM seeds — especially Bt Brinjal and HT Cotton — have been reported in Maharashtra and Telangana, indicating:
    • Weak surveillance
    • Poor enforcement
    • Fragmented coordination between central and state agencies
• Lack of Visionary Policy:
  • Experts argue that the government takes fragmented, reactive steps instead of pursuing a long-term seed strategy. There is no robust seed policy integrating:
    • IPR framework
    • Farmer accessibility
    • Research incentives
    • Climate resilience
• Outdated Legislation:
  • Seeds Act of 1966 lacks effective penal provisions.
  • Need to modernize the Seeds Bill 2004 and Seeds Policy 2002 to meet current needs.
  • This was highlighted in the 13th National Seed Congress (2024).

👨‍🌾 3. Farmers

• Low Seed Replacement Rate (SRR):
  This refers to the percentage of area sown using certified or quality seed instead of farm-saved seed.
  • Desired SRR: Minimum 20%
  • Actual SRR: Below that for most crops

Why is this important?
Using the same seeds year after year reduces genetic purity and productivity — like photocopying a photocopy repeatedly.

• Unscientific Use of Farm-Saved Seed:
  • No disease resistance
  • Lower germination rate
  • Reduced output
• Poor Seed Multiplication Infrastructure:
  Farmers who want to multiply quality seed (in breeder-foundation-certified stages) don’t have enough dedicated land or institutional support.

🛣️ The Way Forward

✅ Balanced IPR Regime

• Encourage innovation while ensuring farmers’ rights to save, share, and replant seed — in line with the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 (PPVFR Act).

✅ Strengthening Public-Private Collaboration

• Institutions like ICAR and State Agricultural Universities (SAUs) should partner with private firms to accelerate climate-resilient and high-yielding seed development.

✅ Boosting SRR through Incentives

• Provide subsidy and training to promote adoption of certified seed.
• Invest in decentralised seed hubs for faster distribution and region-specific varieties.

✅ Regulatory Reforms

• Ensure fast-track approval of new seed varieties, especially biotech crops after robust biosafety checks.
• Enforce strict penalties on illegal GM seed distribution.

🧭 Conclusion: Seed is Strategy

“Fertiliser, water, credit — all are supporting actors. But the seed is the hero of this agricultural drama. If the seed system is flawed, the entire production script goes wrong.”

In a country like India, where agriculture is still the primary livelihood for millions, reforming the seed industry is not just an agricultural issue — it is a national development imperative.

🌱 Steps to Strengthen the Seed Industry in India

We’ve seen that India’s seed industry holds immense potential but faces critical challenges in regulation, research, accessibility, and quality.

To address these, a multi-pronged reform strategy is essential — involving policy clarity, legal coherence, innovation incentives, and farmer outreach.

🛡️ 1. Curb Illegal GM Crops

“A law is only as strong as its enforcement.”

• Collaborative Action:
  Build a centre-state coordination mechanism to quickly identify and take control of fields where illegal GM cotton (e.g., HTBt cotton) is being grown.
• Strict Penalties:
  Use the Seed Act and Environment Protection Act to penalize unauthorised distribution and cultivation.

🧬 2. Clarity in GM Policy

“India needs not just regulation of biotechnology, but a vision for it.”

• Formulate a National GM Crop Policy that:
  • Defines where GM crops are necessary (e.g. pest resistance in cotton, drought tolerance in cereals).
  • Encourages R&D investment in public and private sectors.
  • Aligns with bio-safety protocols and farmer safety.

⚖️ 3. Harmonise IPR Framework

• Resolve the conflict between PPVFR Act (2001) and Patent Act (1970) which creates confusion over ownership of seed technologies.
• Develop a clear, balanced IPR policy that protects:
  • Innovation by companies.
  • Rights of farmers to save and reuse seed.

💰 4. Encourage Private Participation

“Private sector is needed for scale; public sector is needed for reach.”

• Offer bankable, targeted schemes to encourage production of low-cost, high-volume seeds (e.g., wheat, rice, pulses) which are not profitable under usual market dynamics.
• Set up Seed Incubation Hubs in collaboration with agri-startups and Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs).

🧪 5. Strengthen Regulatory Mechanism

• A modern seed system needs:
  • Transparency in approvals.
  • Science-based evaluation.
  • Predictability in rules.
  • Fairness in licensing and pricing.
• Revamp existing seed regulatory bodies under a single nodal agency with a clear timeline-based approval framework.

🌾 6. Integrated Seed Sector Development

“One size doesn’t fit all in Indian agriculture.”

• Improve Seed Replacement Rate (SRR) through:
  • Subsidised quality seed kits.
  • Awareness drives in low SRR states.
  • Zonal adaptation: Promote seeds that match local agro-climatic zones.
• Create a digitally monitored seed distribution network to track:
  • Inventory
  • Zone-specific demand
  • Crop-wise availability

🧭 Conclusion

The vision of doubling farmers’ income, which was targeted for 2022, remains incomplete without a robust, science-driven and inclusive seed policy.

A healthy seed ecosystem is a pillar of Atmanirbhar Krishi (self-reliant agriculture).
It can:

• Improve yields
• Reduce input costs
• Build resilience to climate change
• Strengthen India’s position in the global seed export market