An overview of oilseeds seed industry

The seed industry of the country has played a central role in bringing green revolution in India leading to record growth in production and productivity of different crops. Today, the Indian seed sector with a value of USD 3.0 billion is the fifth-largest seed industry in the world and is growing at a fast pace. The oilseed seed industry market is worth 0.06 Bn USD (Approx.) in India, out of which, the hybrid oilseed seed market is worth 0.027 Bn USD (Approx.). The oilseed sector is faced with several challenges concerning poor SRR as compared to other crops, which is less than 25%-30% leading to low productivity. In the case of mustard, castor, soybean, and linseed, the SRR is higher as compared to other oilseed crops. The other challenges are the inadequacy of seeds of high yielding and climate-resilient varieties, the availability of hybrids only in mustard, sunflower, and castor not with full exploitation of their potential. There is an urgent need to promote research varieties developed by private seed companies which suited to local situations and help in increasing the VRR of oilseed crops. Transfer of new agricultural technology to farmers including new seeds of oilseed crops also needs to be strengthened. Further, it is important to look at the concerns of the seed industry relating to IPR, seed traceability, support to private seed industry R&D, incentivizing the private seed industry for increased production of seeds of targeted crops/varieties, involving the seed industry in implementing government programmes on seed production and distribution and strengthening seed storage infrastructure. These are the suggested initiatives for enhancing the availability of quality seeds of oilseed crops.