Status of Seed Production and Distribution in Himachal Pradesh

This study presents the status of seed policy, production and delivery mechanism for two major crops viz., rice and wheat in Himachal Pradesh. The adoption process of new variety of crop is influenced by the speed at which the breeder seed is multiplied to produce adequate quantity of foundation and certified seed. However, actual internal supply of certified seeds of these two main cereal crops in the state was found to fall short of the normative demand for 20% replacement showing low seed replacement ratio (8 to 10%). The production of foundation seed on State Seed Multiplication Farms (SMFs) not only decreased over the years but also showed wider year to year fluctuations. The production of certified seeds by registered growers also showed glaring year to year fluctuations bringing instability in the supply of seeds of improved varieties in the state. Therefore, number of certified seed growers and area under certified seeds should be increased (from the existing level of less than 1% to at least upto 2% of the cropped area).There are also no special efforts on the part of research institutes to popularize their released varieties and majority of the farmers were not aware of new varieties. Public R&D institutions need to forge public private partnership to integrate research, extension, seed production and marketing for better performance and seeddistribution. There is also a need to develop effective seed quarantine mechanism so as to check the supply of spurious seeds and the seeds of varieties which are highly susceptible to diseases. Moreover, private seed agencies and village level primary cooperative societies should also be encouraged to participate in the seed production and distribution programme.