Measures to strengthen India’s seed sector and promote climate-resilient varieties
PIB says India has expanded climate-resilient seed development, varietal registration, traceability, and seed-quality regulation across the seed value chain
- The ministry says India’s seed sector is being strengthened through research, registration, quality control, traceability, and trade facilitation.
- NARES is described as the research network supporting crop-variety development through ICAR institutes, State Agricultural Universities, Central Agricultural Universities, and AICRP on Seed centres.
- The PPV&FR Authority has accelerated variety registration under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001.
- The Seed Authentication, Traceability and Holistic Inventory Portal is being used for digital traceability across seed production, certification, inventory management, and distribution.
What happened
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has highlighted a set of measures to strengthen India’s seed sector and improve its global competitiveness. The stated focus is on research and development, climate-resilient crop varieties, quality seed production, traceability, and easier trade procedures.
According to the government, the National Agricultural Research and Education System (NARES) has supported varietal development through 56 Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Institutes, 48 State Agricultural Universities, 3 Central Agricultural Universities, and 39 All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Seed (Crops) centres.
UPSC may ask how India can improve seed quality, protect farmers from spurious seeds, support climate-resilient varieties, and balance public breeding with private sector participation. The topic also connects the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights framework, the Seeds Act, 1966, and modern tools such as genome editing and traceability systems.
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