Govt notifies seed varieties suitable for rabi season after 2 months of release by PM

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released 109 seed varieties in August as part of the government’s 100-day programme. Of these, 20 varieties are suitable for rabi season. These were notified only on October 8 after sowing season has started. Though the high-level panel on seed approval approved these varieties in August, the late notification will potentially delay commercial cultivation. Farmers may have to wait for another 2-3 years before they can commercially use them after seed breeders develop them.

According to official sources, there were four varieties of sugarcane, three each in maize and masur, two varieties each in wheat, gram (chana), safflower and grain amaranth and one variety each in barley and berseem suitable for the rabi season.

Under process

The Central Sub-Committee on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties for Agricultural Crops, in its meeting on August 2, approved these varieties for notification, sources said, adding that the minutes of the meeting were circulated only in the first week of September.

For the rabi season, the Prime Minister dedicated HI 1665 and HI 8840 (wheat), DWRB-219 (barley), PG 265 and NbeG 1267 (gram), PL 320, Kota Masoor 6, PSL 17 (lentil), ISF-123-sel-15, ISF 300 (safflower), JB 08-17 (berseem), Co 17018, CoLk 16202, CoLk 16470, CoPb 17215 (sugarcane), APCH-2, APCH-3, IMH 230 (maize), RMA 120 and GA 8 SKNA 1407 (grain amaranth) on August 11 as part of the 109 high-yielding, climate-resilient and biofortified seed varieties of 34 agricultural and 27 horticultural crops. These were developed by different research centres of ICAR to enhance farm productivity and farmers’ income.

Breeding agencies view

However, seed multiplication agencies are of the view that the notification has to be ensured at least one month before the start of the sowing season so that those who take the newly developed varieties get ample time to plan for the production of breeder seeds. “The meetings of the sub-committee should be more frequent if warranted, as there is no point in accumulating applications and approving over 300 varieties of both kharif and rabi season at one go,” said a top executive of a seed company.

The Centre has also decided to merge the existing Seednet portal with recently launched SATHI (Seed Authentication, Traceability and Holistic Inventory) portal to bring in reforms in the seed sector as all sort of information related to the demand-supply as well as regulatory issues will be at a single place.

The Prime Minister had earlier suggested that the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) should proactively inform farmers every month about the benefits of the new varieties being developed to create awareness about their benefits. Scientists in ICAR said they have been working to bring unutilised varieties into the mainstream through the extension network with field demonstration.

(An earlier version of this article had erroneously indicated that the seeds referred to had not yet been notified by the government.)