Organizations

 
 NATIONAL SEEDS CORPORATION: ( NSC):

The National Seeds Corporation (NSC0 was initiated in 1961 under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Later, on 7^th March,1963, it was registered as a limited company in the public sector. The NSC was established to serve two main objectives: first, to promote the development of a seed industry in India and second to produce and supply the foundation seeds of various crops.

The NSC performs following functions:

1. Production and supply of foundation seed.

2. To maintain improved seed stocks of improved varieties

3. Interstate marketing of all classes of seed.

4. Export and import of seed.

5. Production of certified seed where required.

6. Planning the production of breeder seed in consultation with ICAR.

7. Providing technical assistance to seeds corporations and private agencies.

8. Co-ordinating certified seed production of several State Seeds Corporations.

9. Conducting biennial surveys of seed demand.

10. Coordinating market research and sales promotion efforts.

11. Providing training facilities for the staff participating in seed industry development.

12. Providing certification services to states lacking established and independent seed certification agencies.

STATE SEEDS CORPORATION (SSC):

The State Seeds Corporations are chiefly concerned with the production and supply of certified seed, and within the state marketing of certified seed. State Seeds Corporations have been recently established in order to reduce the workload of NSC. These corporations were established in view of the great success of and the impact made by the Tarai Development Corporation (TDC), Pantnagar (established on February 27, 1969) which had gained a virtual strangle hold on the seed market of U.P.almost to the exclusion of NSC. It is hoped that the State Seeds Corporations would be able to function more efficiently and would be able to stimulate a faster growth of the seed industry.

STATE SEED CERTIFICATION AGENCIES (SSCA) :

The State Seed Certification Agencies (SSCAs) are responsible for seed certification in the concerned states. The SSCAs make field inspections and conduct seed tests required for seed certification.

The SSCA's perform the following functions:

1. they screen the applications from seed growers for seed certification and decide on their fitness,

2. they also check and verify the appropriateness of the source seed used for growing the seed crop under certification,

3. they carry out the requisite field inspections,

4. they conduct the seed tests,

5. they certify the seeds found suitable and issue the appropriate tags both for certified and foundation seeds,

6. they guide the seed growers on production, processing and distribution of seeds,

7. they conduct short courses on seed production,etc.for seed growers,

8. and they participate in other activities conductive to the development of seed industry, e.g. preparing and publishing lists of plant breeders, seed growers, etc.

STATE SEED CERTIFICATION BOARD: (SSCB)

Each state has a State Seed Certification Board which supervises the activities of its SSCA. Persons involved in seed processing and distribution, including businessmen dealing with production, processing and marketing of seeds, and scientists from agricultural universities, are the members of this board.

CENTRAL SEED CERTIFICATION BOARD (CSCB)

Central Seed Certification Board (CSCB) advises the state governments and their SSCAs on the matters of seed certification; the chairman of this board is nominated by the central government. The members of the board are drawn from among the officials of the different state departments of agriculture, scientists from the agriculture universities, and persons from the seed industry. The board may also appoint committees for specific tasks.