Participatory Seed Production of Pulses WELCOME Dr. SITA RAM KUMHAR Professor (PBG) & Zonal Director Research Agricultural Research Station, Mandor, Jodhpur Agriulture university jodhpur Presented during Group meeting organized by ICAR-ATARI, Jodhpur for 26-27 July 2018-19

Introduction As per 4th Advance Estimates, the foodgrain production during 2016-17 is as under:   Foodgrains  –  275.68 million tonnes    Pulses  –  23.31 million tonnes    Gram – 9.33 million tonnes    Tur  –  4.78 million tonnes    Urd bean –  2.80 million tonnes    Oilseeds  –  32.10 million tonnes Estimates of production of major crops for 2016-17 have been released by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare on 16th August, 2017. The country has advanced from a situation of food scarcity and imports to that of food security and exportable surpluses. The Green Revolution of India has been universally acclaimed as a successful enterprise of the farmers, the Scientists and the Government.

Introduction The land mark achievements in agriculture in the 60s and 70s were the result of a combination of inputs like introduction of high yielding varieties and its seed, increased fertilizer use, expansion of irrigation facilities, massive extension efforts, improved farm practices and, above all, ingenuity and industry of the Indian farmers. However, the growth of agriculture sector has not kept pace with the growth of the population and has stagnated.

Introduction The unsatisfactory growth of agriculture, apart from serious implications for food security of the country, has been adversely impacting the growth rate of country’s economy. The imperative of National food security, nutritional security and economic development demand a very focused and determined approach to raise productivity and production in agriculture. In view of the fact, that the area under cultivation is unlikely to increase significantly, thrust have to be on raising productivity per unit of cultivated land.

About Pulses India is the largest producer (18.09 million tonnes in 2010-2011) and consumer of pulses in the world has low average annual productivity growth rate for most of the pulses. Grain legumes are an important source of dietary protein for many people in developing world with a protein content meanly twice as high as that in cereals. They are the cheap source of quality protein that complements the protein in cereals and thus enhances the nutritional value of cereal dominated diets. 

Pulses Statistics In India, pulses were grown on 29.45 million ha area producing 23.13 million tonnes of the grain during 2016-17. Usually these crops are grown as rainfed on marginal soils. Since, less than 25% area is irrigated, the productivity of pulses remain less than 785 kg per ha at national level. The major producers of pulses in the country are Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh followed by Karnataka which together share about 77% of total pulse production while remaining 23% is contributed by Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand.

Pulses Diversity in India India grows such a variety of grain legumes which none of the countries in the world grows.  There are nine major grain legumes (chickpea, pigeonpea, urdbean, mungbean, horse gram, moth bean, lathyrus, lentil and peas) which together account for more than 95% of the total area under pulses.  There are 11 minor grain legumes viz. cowpea, broad bean, dry bean, rice bean, winged bean, adzuki bean, hyacinth bean, lima bean, jack bean, zombie pea and pillipesera, which are grown sporadically in isolated pockets.

All India Area, Production and Productivity of Pulses Crop/ Year 2016-17 2017-18* Area Production Productivity Arhar 53.38 48.73 913 44.29 40.24 908 Urd 34.78 21.76 626 41.78 26.00 622 Mungbean 33.70 16.43 487 32.39 14.17 437 Other kharif pulses 21.77 8.9 410 18.80 7.92 421 All Kharif Pulses 143.63 95.85 667 137.26 88.33 643 Chickpea 96.26 93.78 974 104.25 110.96 1064 Urd bean 10.0 6.56 656 8.48 6.29 742 Mung bean 9.57 5.22 545 5.78 3.19 552 Other Rabi Pulses 35.00 29.91 854 32.54 30.71 944 All Rabi Pulses 150.83 135.47 898 151.05 151.15 1001 Total Pulses 294.46 231.31 785 288.31 239.48 831 Area (lakh ha.), Production (lakh tones) and Productivity (kg/ha) of Pulses *IInd Advance estimate

State wise Production of Pulses State/ Year 2016-17 2017-18* Mung bean M.P. 62.91 77.93 2.96 1.37 Maharastra 37.68 33.03 2.60 1.64 Rajasthan 31.81 31.09 8.10 7.77 U.P. 21.84 19.85 0.52 Karnataka 17.38 18.45 1.16 0.85 Andhra Pradesh 11.44 9.31 0.66 0.91 Jharkhand 8.07 7.85 - Chhattisgarh 7.59 5.33 Tamil Nadu 4.27 5.45 0.56 1.07 Others 22.27 20.49 5.09 3.23 Total Production 231.31 239.48 21.65 17.36 Production (in lakh tones) *IInd Advance estimate

Seed Seed is alchemy of agriculture. Quality seed is pivotal for yield enhancement, production and self sufficiency needs of the country. From a meager 50.5 million tonnes during 1950-51 to 275.78 million tonnes of food grain production during 2016-17, voyage is quite remarkable and flaunts the might of Indian agriculture. It is made possible due to use of quality seed of improved varieties, advanced package of practices, adroitness and diligence of Indian farmers. For agrarian based country like India, Seed security is having a strong positive correlation to food security, which is quite clearly evident from increment in food grain production vis-à-vis growth in quality seed production.

Seed Production Seed is elixir of agriculture having the potential to transmute the face of Indian agricultural scenario and for transgression of yield barriers. Seed is prime input encompassing the capacity to ensure food security i.e. seed security can play a crucial role in ensuring food security. A robust seed system guarantees food security needs of the country and acts as driver of growth in agriculture. Making the resource poor farmers enable with quality seed and its wholesome production technology is a challenge that needs to be tackled upon. Role of quality seed is documented and acknowledged across farming systems and ICAR duly acknowledged this fact by the launch of mile stone projects viz. AICRP- NSP (Crops) and other Seed project.

Status of Seed Production by different agencies Agencies/Organization % share of total quantity of seed produced Kind of Seed produced Public Institutions 20-22 Self / Open-Pollinated Crops Private seed companies 5-8 Mainly Hybrid seed Farmer Saved seed 70-75 Self / Open Pollinated Crops

Seed Production Despite a huge institutional framework for seed production both in the public and private sector, availability of good quality seeds continues to be a problem for the farmers. As a result, they prefer to rely on farm saved seeds; seed replacement rate continues to remain in the range of 2-10 per cent in certain states for certain crops, which is much below the desired level of 20 per cent for most crops., As is well known, seed replacement rate has a strong positive correlation with the productivity and production of crops. There is a need to rejuvenate the seeds sector through revamping the public sector seed companies, including the State Seed Corporations.

All India Seed Replacement Rate of Pulses State/ Crop Urd bean Mung bean Arhar M.P. 10 21 17 Maharastra 51 35 31 Rajasthan 7 18 22 U.P. - 25 Karnataka 36 13 Andhra Pradesh 59 78 Gujarat 39 Jharkhand 24 Chhattishgarh 8 4 Tamil Nadu 47 95 All India 34 30 SRR (2011-12) Seed requirement/ area requirement (25%, 35% & 100% for self-pollinated, cross pollinated and 100 hybrids, respectively).

Seed Replacement Rate (%), Seed distribution (q) and area (lakh ha) of Pulses in Rajasthan Crop SRR/ Seed distribu.Area 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 Average Mung bean   SRR 18.35 24.80 23.79 22.05 20.35  21.87 Seed distri. 46697 39183 48526 39430 55565  45880 Area 12.72 7.90 10.20 8.94 13.65  10.68 Urd bean 6.94 10.33 11.90 10.87 12.96  10.60 3541 45.05 4667 4398 7733  4077 2.55 2.18 1.96 2.02 2.98  2.34 Moth bean 5.73 14.07 9.43 7.95 6.55  8.75 11338 18229 13129 10365 10685  12749 13.18 8.64 9.28 8.69  10.13 Gram 12.53 13.75 11.79 18.24 17.84  14.83 134809 129201 170104 171839 126048  146400 14.34 19.23 12.56 9.42  13.62 Seed requirement/ area requirement (25%, 35% & 100% for self-pollinated, cross pollinated and 100 hybrids, respectively).

Needs Ensure supply of quality seeds to the farmers. Develop and enforce seed quality standards. Maintaining sustainability with profitability to the farmers by development of suitable infrastructure for Seed Quality Control and Seeds Development.

National Seed Policy 2002 The National Seeds Policy 2002, clearly emphasizes that “It has become evident that in order to achieve the food production targets of the future, a major effort will be required to enhance the seed replacement rates of various crops. This would require a major increase in the production of quality seeds……..” According to the National seeds Policy 2002, the thrust areas have to be – i) Varietal Development. ii) Seed Production. iii) Seed Replacement Rate Enhancement. iv) Primary responsibility for production of breeder seed to be that of the ICAR/State Agriculture Universities. v) An effective seed production programme. vi) Popularisation of new varieties. vii) Availability of newly developed varieties to farmers with minimum time gap. viii) Provision of incentives to domestic seed industry to enable it to produce seeds of high yielding varieties and hybrid seeds at a faster pace to meet the challenges of domestic requirements.

Strategies Advanced preparation of seed rolling plan Ensure availability of - Quality seed for each season - Formulate programme of identifying genuine growers - Training farmers and registered growers in each district of the state for seed production Maintenance of seed purity and quality through regular monitoring and evaluation. Seed bank to be set up in cluster villages.

Active role State seed certification agency in the state Contd.... Active role State seed certification agency in the state Construction of more number of seed go-downs under seed village programme State seed farm in different agro-climatic zone of the state be established Seed testing laboratory to be set up in each district of the state

Seed Rolling Plan States long term seed plan based on crop area, seed rate/ha. total seed required, targeted SRR seed required for normal conditions and seed required for contingency situations worked out. Out of total quantity of seed required variety wise quantity of seed required for individual crops be worked out. The required foundation and breeder seed to be worked backward three years in advance. States should focus on crops, in which production will be impacted during the year due to Natural calamity as demand for seed of such crop in the succeeding year could be high.

Seed requirement by SRR in Rajasthan Crop Area (lakh ha) (2016-17) Seed rate (kg/ha) Seed requirement (lakh q) Seed Multiplication ratio (SMR) Seed requirement (lakh q) as per SRR 25% SRR 35% SRR Mung bean 21.20 15 3.18 40 0.79 1.11 Moth bean 13.88 12 1.66 0.42 0.58 Urd 4.77 0.71 0.18 0.25 Arhar 17.86 20 0.036 100 0.009 0.013 Gram 15.48 75 11.61 10 2.90 4.01 Seed requirement/ area requirement (25%, 35% & 100% for self-pollinated, cross pollinated and 100 hybrids, respectively).

Constraints in Quality seed production of Pulses Among major production constraints, availability of quality seed of improved varieties has been a major constraint in enhancing production and productivity of pulses in India.  Despite a target of 10% of seed replacement rate we could not achieve even more than 7% at country level.  This is primarily due to lack of organized seed production programme for pulses. Still we do not have a proper medium term (4-5 years) seed rolling plan for major pulses producing states. The indent for breeder seed is quite low in many cases and that too is for old varieties. There is poor conversion of breeder seed to foundation and certified seed. Even true picture of conversion of breeder seed to foundation and certified seed is not available for most the states.  To insure timely availability of quality seed, capabilities of seed production must be enhanced with introduction of contractual obligation component by involving seed societies, farmers, private sectors and NGO’s besides SAU’s, IIPR and  State Seed Corporations. Participation of growers in seed production should be encouraged by way of simplifying the registration and seed certification procedures.

Conclusion Seed is the decisive input for sustained agriculture production and is paramount for realizing the potential of all other inputs without which the investment on inputs such as fertilizer, water, and pesticides will not pay desired dividends to the farmers. Use of quality seeds alone could increase productivity by 15-20% indicate the critical role of seed in agriculture. As Indian economy is basically agrarian due to sheer number of people directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture, the role of seed in India’s context is far greater significant. Whatever the share of Indian seed market, is from organized sector that accounts for only 30-35%, which opens a window for enormous possibilities.

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