Assam Eyes to Improve Seed Replacement Rate from 40% to 91%

The government of Assam is determined to improve the “Seed Replacement Rate” (SRR) and “Seed Vertical Rate”, in Assam said Atul Bora, Minister of Agriculture & Horticulture, Government of Assam on Wednesday.

Speaking at a National Conference on strengthening the traditional seed system, held at Mayfair Hotel, Sonapur, he saw an opportunity to lift SRR from 40% in Assam to 91% in the states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

“Seeds are the backbone of crop production, and traditional seeds, with their inherent qualities, play a vital role in overcoming local challenges. Recognizing the unique identity and importance of the informal seed system for small and marginal farmers, the Government of Assam is taking proactive measures to promote these systems through the Department of Agriculture and Assam Seed Corporation and make Assam self-sufficient in the seed sector,” said the Minister.

Seed Replacement Rate or SRR can be explained as the percentage of area sown out of the total area of the crop planted in the season by using certified/quality seeds other than the farm-saved seed. SRR is significant to measure the extent of use of certified/quality seeds.

The sustainable availability of seed and seed choice is an essential issue for smallholders now in most of the regions for nutrition security, rural development, smallholders’ livelihoods, and for all green value chains. A sustainable seed system will ensure that high-quality seeds with a wide range of varieties where crops are being produced and fully available in time and affordable to smallholder farmers. But in many instances, most smallholder farmers have not yet fully benefited from the advantages of using quality seed due to a combination of factors including inefficient seed production, distribution, quality assurance systems, and bottlenecks caused by a lack of good seed policy on key issues such as access to credit for inputs.

In the context of growing demand for food production and food security, the Minister has assured to provide all necessary government “financial and even more importantly, technical support” to indigenous farmers in the preservation of the traditional seed system. 

“There should be a smallholder-friendly policy in place to promote the traditional seed system,” said Mohan Bora, a farmer from Jorhat, Assam.

To which Bhaskar Pegu, Director of Agriculture, Government of Assam affirmed that the government would take the required steps for policy development toward strengthening and sustaining the traditional seed system in the state.

The two-day ongoing conference is organised by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, India through its SuATI Project (Support to Agroecological Transformation Processes in India) – supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in cooperation with Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), and Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).  

Rajeev Ahal, Director, Natural Resource Management and Agroecology,Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resource Cluster, GIZ India requested handholding in enabling traditional seed system while presenting the following three suggestions: developing a multi-stakeholder platform with Krishi Vigyan Kendras as leads for collective strengthening of traditional seed system; regularising land races certification mentioning Odisha as an example; and Seed Village concept, community-based traditional seed preservation process.

Deliberating in a panel discussion, a farmer Shivarudhraih Basavalinghiah from Karnataka expressed much confidence in the traditional seed system saying, “traditional healthy seeds can compete with hybrid seeds in many ways”.

Vouching for traditional means of developing the traditional pesticide process, he said that it is equally effective, if not more, and has much less chemical residue and therefore it is healthier.

With nearly 100 farmers and agricultural scientists from various states in India, the conference is organised with the following four objectives: 

1.    Increase awareness of the importance of SmallholderSeed Systems for Sustainable Agriculture.

2.    To discuss the problems faced by farmers, the issue of access and equity in technologies, policy, and the challenges in the seed sector.

3.    Foster priority setting and pooling of scientific, technical, and financial resources to strengthen small holder seed systems.

4.    To discuss the role of stakeholders in promoting participatory research on seed production and marketing through innovative models and programs.

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