After an erratic monsoon in the kharif season, seed companies hope for better sales in the rabi season, on improved water availability after the late rains in key growing regions.
They see the seed demand for commodities such as mustard and wheat grow due to good sowing. Trader sources say oilseed sowing is up one per cent over this time last year, as on December 6. That under mustard seed has risen by close to two per cent, to around six million hectares.
“Demand for seeds has improved but things are still not very great, as we do not see much growth in the other crops,” said M Ramasami, managing director, Rasi Seeds.
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) says the seeds industry will grow at about 15 per cent yearly from the current Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 10,700 crore by 2015. “Production levels of seeds are likely to grow from the current level of about 40 million quintal to 63 mn qtls by 2015,” it said, based on an analysis titled ‘The future of Indian seed industry’.
“Seed companies are required to convince farmers to abandon conventional seeds in favour of high-yielding hybrid seeds, as the switch can help farmers get high yields, fetch better prices for the produce and almost triple their income,” said D S Rawat, secretary general of Assocham, while releasing the chamber’s analysis. “Public-private partnership, with a strong regulatory framework and collaborative research, are other key measures to ensure smooth growth of the industry.”
According to trader sources, seed demand will be driven by crops such as cotton, maize, pearl millets (bajra), mustard, rapeseed, rice, sorghum, sunflower and vegetable hybrids. “Among the rabi crops, there will be good growth in the demand for maize seeds, while that for wheat will be low. Also, vegetable crops will do well,” said Uday Singh of Namdhari Seeds Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore-based seeds maker.
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The organised sector’s share is just over half the total seed industry at Rs 3,250 crore. The unorganised sector accounts for the rest, as marginal farmers comprise a little over 60 per cent of land owners in India and opt for cheaper seeds, says Assocham.
Farmers are gradually shedding inhibitions about hybrids but the problem is that hybrids are both expensive and can’t be reused. With about 20 per cent share, cotton is the biggest component in the hybrid seed market, followed by rice (15 per cent), wheat and vegetables (over 10 per cent each). While there are a handful of state seed corporations and the Seed Farm Corporation of India engaged in production, distribution and marketing of high volume and low-value public varieties, there are about 350 private sector producers and distributors and about 300 trading firms.
In India, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are leading commercial seed-producing states.