The pitch to turn India as a sourcing hub for production and distribution of quality seeds still seems to be a distant dream. The Centre’s proposal for setting up seed valley across five states ?Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttarakhand ? is still in the cold storage. While there is an in-principle approval by the ministry of agriculture for setting up seed valley or special economic zone for seeds, there is no move till date regarding the same on the part of the respective state governments.
According to industry sources, the proposed move is yet to gain momentum, as there is little interest by the state governments for taking it up further.
“Perhaps state governments are in the election mode and with land becoming scarce for big projects, a special economic zone for seeds might be delayed,” a senior government official, who didn’t wish to be named, said.
The official said that there is an in-principle nod by the government of India and the ministry of agriculture has already written letters to the respective state governments. However, it is learnt that there is a lukewarm response from the respective state governments and there is a delay in the processing as well.
The seed valley concept, which is to come up in coastal regions, is indeed a new initiative for the industry to facilitate seed trade with international companies. Apart from R&D activities, the concept of seed valley was designed keeping the recent certification schemes of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in place to facilitate exports.
With India becoming signatory to the OECD certification process, international seed trade is expected to grow significantly which is currently 1% of the global trade. Moreover, the industry seems to have also turned a cold shoulder towards the newly launched OECD certification process that would facilitate in getting international certification for the respective seed varieties.
“Since OECD certification is still an optional and not mandatory, private seed companies are yet to make up their mind and some of them are unaware also,” an official pointed out.