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There is a huge gap between seed production and requirement, the Registrar of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Dr P. Subbian, has said.
He was reviewing the status of seed production at TNAU's breeder seed production centres. Dr Subbian said the widening gap between seed production and requirement has compelled the Government to plan for future seed production programmes.
TNAU scientists, agriculture department officials, members of TN Seed Producers Association and other stakeholders participated in the day-long workshop.
Addressing the participants at the annual seed workshop, Dr Subbian said that the total seed requirement in the country was around 48 lakh tonnes, but only 37 per cent of this was being met by the public and private sector, while the rest was managed with farm saved seeds.
In Tamil Nadu, out of a requirement of 2.56 lakh tonnes of seeds, only 24 per cent was met by the supply agencies, resulting in a supply gap of 76 per cent.
“The gap is more in agricultural crops compared to horticultural crops, and therefore the government is keen to maximise quality seed production in the State,” he said.
Hybrid seed
He further added that popularisation and promotion of hybrid seed production was necessary. ‘Four hundred million tonnes of foodgrains is produced in China from 100 million hectares, whereas in India, only 250 million tonnes is produced from 140 million hectares. This is mainly due to the use of hybrids in China,' he said, adding ‘the Government of India aims to increase the area under hybrid rice cultivation to 25 per cent of all rice-cultivated area by 2015'.
To address the seed production issues, TNAU established a Seed Centre in 2006. In 2011-12, the centre supplied 18.58 tonnes of breeder seed, 55 tonnes of foundation seed, 30 tonnes of certified seed and 92 tonnes of truthfully labelled seed. There is scope for increasing seed production in TNAU Research Stations. Incentives to seed producing scientists in the form of awards to recognise their efforts would help set new targets, Dr Subbian said.
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