The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare has revised the designated (nodal) agency wise area of jurisdiction for the implementation of seed certification under the Overseas Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) programme by reducing the number of designated agencies from 10 to five.
In a circular issued on January 16, the Joint Secretary (Seeds) in the Ministry of Agriculture B. Rajender stated that the decision was taken following the discussions held at the national conference on seed certification in Hyderabad in November last year.
He suggested the agencies to explore the possibilities to register higher area under OECD seed scheme to enhance exports.
Accordingly, the jurisdiction of Telangana State Seed and Organic Certification Authority (TSSOCA) has been increased to three more States – Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and two Union Territories – Lakshdweep and Puducherry from the existing are of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh besides Telangana. Director of TSSOCA K. Keshavulu stated that they had set a target of registering over 5,500 acres of area for seed production under the OECD programme this Rabi/Yasangi season in the State to produce about 67 tonnes of seed for export.
Last year, the agency had registered 2,175 acres under the programme to produce seed and exported 17 tonnes of sorghum and paddy seed to Sudan, Egypt and the Philippines.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on agriculture credit and insurance held here earlier this month, Union Agriculture Secretary Shobhana K. Pattanayak complimented the initiatives taken by TSSOCA in implementing the scheme as well as its efforts to revitalise the public sector seed entities. Director General of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) David Bergvinson stated that the OECD seed certification was also a boon to them since they could push for seed exports by Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
“We (Telangana) have proposed to the Centre to set up an export promotion council for seed as a single window system to give a push to seed exports with the help of OECD certification since the farming activity has the huge potential for earning foreign exchange”, Agriculture Production Commissioner C. Parthasarathi said, when contacted.
