Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah will address the “National Symposium on Production of Improved and Traditional Seeds through Cooperative Sector ” organized by the Bharatiya Beej Sahakari Samiti Limited (BBSSL) in New Delhi today on Thursday.
Shah will also unveil the Logo, Website and Brochure and distribute membership certificates to BBSSL members. During the symposium, objectives of BBSSL, importance of seed production through PACS and role of seeds in productivity and nutrition of crops, along with role of cooperative societies in upliftment of small and marginal farmers, will be discussed, reads a press release of PIB.
Top cooperatives which are part of the ambitious project include IFFCO, Kribhco, NAFED and two government aided bodies NDDB and NCDC. The plan envisages inclusion of the smallest co-op units-PACS to this national level seed multistate co-op. PACS would not only be a consumer but also producer of certified seeds, ending the perennial shortage of land for developing certified seeds”, said a top official.
BBSSL is to act as an umbrella organization for advanced and traditional seed research and production along with processing and marketing through the cooperative sector. It will provide assistance to cooperatives across the country in demand-based seed production, development of infrastructure for storage, processing and packaging of seeds, logistics support, quality enhancement and standardization, requisite certification and marketing of the seeds produced.
Earlier, in an informal interaction with media, Cooperation Secretary Gyanesh Kumar had said BBSSL would also assist the cooperative societies in multiplication and conservation of traditional seeds of various crops and varieties.
The symposium will begin with a presentation by officials of the Ministry of Cooperation on 54 new initiatives taken in the last 27 months to strengthen the cooperative sector. Apart from about 2000 participants from all over the country, thousands of participants will also participate in this one-day symposium through virtual medium.
Three major cooperative societies of the country – Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (KRIBHCO) and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and two major statutory bodies of the Government of India – National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) ) and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) have jointly promoted BBSSL.
According to a study, of all the seeds used in the country, only 47% is certified. It has also been noted that there is an increase of 15-20% productivity if certified seeds are used. By just increasing seed consumption of certified variety by one percent, there would be an increase of 5 lakh tonnes of grains. The current market of certified seed is of Rs 36000 crore and if the total conversion to certified seed is achieved, it could be anything between Rs 80 to 90 thousand crores, reveals the study.
The current certification labs (172) in states may be increased to meet the emerging situation. The seed multistate co-op will have an authorized share capital of Rs 500 crore and an initial paid-up share capital of Rs 250 crore. The five co-ops will contribute Rs 50 crore each.