Pune Hosts 12th Edition of Indian Seed Congress – A Gateway to Agricultural Innovation

Pune, 29th February 2024: The National Seed Association of India, an apex body of Indian Seed Industry which is playing a leadership role for facilitating a favourable policy environment for the growth of Indian Seed industry, is organising its 12th edition of Indian Seed Congress (ISC) on the theme “Seeds for Sustainable Agriculture” at The Westin, Koregaon Park Pune on 29th February and 1st March 2024.

The ISC 2024 was inaugurated today 29th February 2024, the chief guest was Dr C D Mayee, former Chairman, Agricultural Scientist Recruitment Board and a renowned scientist in the field of Agriculture. The Guest of Honour was Dr A K Singh, Vice Chancellor of CSA University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Ajeet Mulay, Convener of National Organizing Committee of ISC 2024 welcome all the guest, other dignitaries and delegates He also gave a brief background of the deliberation which will take place during the two days event. Dr B B Pattanaik, General Secretary NSAI briefly informed the audience on the various activities under taken by NSAI for supporting the Indian seed industry.

Dr M Prabhakar Rao, President NSAI made a detailed presentation on the present status and prospects of the Indian Seed industry starting from green revolution to the present period of Amritkal. He lauded the role of seed industry in the development of Indian Agriculture and the Indian Economy. He indicated that with India setting itself to boost its economy to 7 trillion USD by 2030 and 10 trillion USD by 2034, the seed industry also has potential to grow to 7 billion USD, if we can focus and aim for 1 billion USD export. He also gave a perspective view of the future developments and emerging technologies which would need to be integrated with seed research and development to harness its full potential. Dr Rao also presented a matrix to set priority of seed sector for the new era.

Guest of Honour, Dr AK Singh mentioned that the Indian Agriculture has gone through tremendous transformation exhibiting outstanding growth in a number of crops, particularly, the horticultural crops. Still there was huge potential to be tapped for boosting the production to a level where we ensure our domestic food and nutritional security and also tap the growing export market. Dr Singh was of the view that good quality seeds alone were capable of pioneering this transformation and hoped that the deliberations during the ISC will set a direction to this initiative.

Chief Guest Dr C D mayee appreciated the visionary presentation by president NSAI and hoped that under his leadership the Seed industry was going to achieve the new heights in the days to come. Dr Mayee emphasized the use of new technology to be used in the area where we are facing constraint, particularly, with respect to the increasing labour problems in agriculture which could be tackled by the mechanization and adaptation of new technology tools. Extensive use of digital technologies in agriculture has to be explored to address the difficult areas of agricultural development. Dr. Mayee suggested that we must target the new genetic tools and technologies for improvements in the production/productivity of crops where we have shortages, particularly, the oilseed like mustard, soybean and groundnut and also a number of pulses.

Vaibhav R Kashikar, Treasurer NSAI summarized the 12 years journey of ISC which has made significant contribution towards giving shape to the Indian Seed Industry and presented the vote of thanks to all distinguished guests, sponsors delegated and all others associated with organization with event.

The ISC 2024 which will continue on 29th February and 1st March 2024 has been organized into six Technical Sessions which address emerging topics having impact on Indian Seed industry to be discussed in detail by the best subject matter experts invited from national/international institutions, pertaining to seeds. Exhibition stalls have also been set up to showcase latest technology and products by the seed companies and trading tables for providing a platform for business negotiations and promotion of seed trade.

The two-day event would enable comprehensive deliberations and discussions on scientific, technological, regulatory, and business developments which are going to be the core attraction of ISC 2024.