Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022: Suggestions from
Research Based Seed Industry
Lt. Col. Ashwani Yadav
Executive Director, FSII
14th March 2017
New Delhi
FSII - Introduction
• A Conglomeration of Research & Development based Seed Companies that stand
for :
 Long term commitment to R&D for sustainability of Indian Agriculture.
 Investing Rs 400-500 crore per year in research & development.
 Continuous development of improved and customized genetics for Indian Farmers
 Pan India Seed distribution network of nearly 2 lakh retailers.
 Creating nearly 5 lakh direct and indirect jobs in rural India.
 Seamless transfer of modern technology to the farmers
 More than 10,000 extension staff working with farmers all over India.
 Work based on last mile solutions delivery to farmers’ field
 Continuous Training and partnership with farmers.
 Significant contributor in ‘Make in India’ initiative.
 More than 100 Seed Plants all over India.
 Seed exports to South East Asia and African countries.
• Committed for enhancing farmers’ income through Research, Innovation and
Farmers’ capacity building.
Our Values
Innovation
• By investing in research and technology, developing
solutions and knowledge that yields prosperity for
farmers.
Care and Respect
• For all stakeholders, environment, legal compliances,
intellectual property and employees.
Relationship
• Committed to collaborate with government agencies,
farmer organizations, NGOs and consumers for the
sustainability of agriculture production systems.
Role of FSII & Seed Industry in Doubling Farmers’
Income
Doubling Farmers Income
Quality
Market Efficiency
Storage infra & fin
Yield
Stress
Losses
Production
x
Price
=
Cost of Inputs + Cost of operations
Efficiency
Cost / Kg yield
Double
this!
Revenue
=
Total Cost
Cost / Kg yield
Resource efficiency
Profit
=
Revenue – Total Cost
FSII Seminar - Doubling Farmers Income 9th March 2017
5
Key Challenges to Doubling Farmers’ Income
• Lower availability & productivity of factors of production- low yields
across crops.
• Smaller farm size, low yields, dependency on climatic conditions.
• Lack of Integrated Farm Management-beyond crops.
• Availability and access to modern technologies.
• Price discovery.
• Significant crop losses to pests and handling.
• Lower Capacity to handle adversity.
• Lack of co-ordination/ alignment between public and Private system.
• Structured food chain to support the farmer income.
Opportunities to Improve Yields
 Better genetics & quality in seed
 Improve Seed replacement rate (SRR)
 Improved Agronomic practices (50%)
- plant population
- min tillage
- water management (irrigation systems, DSR, etc)
 Better pest management with non-GM/GM methods (20%)
- seed treatment
- insect and disease control
- better weed management
 Minimize post harvest and storage losses (30%)
FSII Seminar - Doubling Farmers Income
9th March 2017
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Need for High Quality Seed
• Seed - the only input which has an inherent ability to increase yields. It’s
a carrier of technology.
• Quality seed + appropriate agronomy = Higher productivity
• Need for better genetics and quality in seed that will deliver higher yields and
make the crops climate resilient.
• Bring global standards into the quality of our seeds to help in making India an
export hub for seeds beyond meeting local requirement.
• ‘Research’ is the key to increasing productivity of our land which in turn
is the key to sustainably improving the profitability of farmers.
• Use of modern technology to improve productivity, encouraging VRR
and SRR.
Seed & Seed Tech Industry Needs
• Conducive, science based, progressive and
predictable policy environment which can promote
private sector investments in seed research and
quality
• Biodiversity related regulations need smoothening:
- Access to germplasm
- Benefit Sharing
- Seed Movement constraints
FSII Seminar - Doubling Farmers Income
9th March 2017
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Seed & seed tech industry needs (Contd.)
• Robust Intellectual Property management
- Encouragement for value adding IP creation
- Aligning and enforcing IP laws affecting seeds
• Public Private Partnerships
- Between ICAR & Private industry
- Clear processes to share germplasm & products
• Alignment between Centre and States
- Political commitment to promote private sector
participation in seed & seed technology promotion
FSII Seminar - Doubling Farmers Income
9th March 2017
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Seed & seed tech industry needs (Contd.)
• Develop India as a global hub for Seed research and
Seed production ( for export purposes )
- Easy movement of research material
- Upgrade seed quality facilities in India to
global standards
- Help easy movement of seeds with
convenient dry ports & other infrastructure
FSII Seminar - Doubling Farmers Income
9th March 2017
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Regulate for Prosperity
• Enabling environment for Innovation to flourish
• Intellectual Property (IP) protection laws and their enforcement - very important
to encourage research investments.
• Need to facilitate easy movement of germplasm and seed across the borders.
• Make regulation less expensive
• Over regulation should not kill technologies by making de-regulation a highly
expensive process.
• Regulation should be science-based, predictable and
consistently applied.
• Need to work together towards a mutually acceptable goal.
Summary/Recommendations
 All stakeholders to work in a collaborative approach towards the
common goal.
 Allow an environment that encourages / incentivizes innovation
in research, development & technology transfer.
 Work together on extension / farmer as a seed producer.
 Improve SRR/VRR.
 Build seed enabling infrastructure closer to the farmers.
 Resolve the dissonance between various laws governing seeds,
states and the Centre.
 Engage industry in PPP mode to enhance the farmers’ income.
 Encourage diversification - across the crops and agro industry.
 Market linked seed production e.g.- to support dairy & poultry
etc.
Thank You