Incentives to ramp up local seeds production on the cards

LAHORE: Government is expected to announce incentives to promote local production of seeds for various crops in the country as rupee devaluation is likely to push prices of the imported substitutes up by 15 to 20 percent, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

Industry people said the government might slap customs duty on seed imports to encourage local seeds production and promote research and development to give advantage to local seed companies.

The industry people said the dependence on imported seeds have undermined food security. Rising trend of seeds import is not a good omen for the agriculture sector. Imports of seeds for planting crops like potatoes, maize, vegetables and fodders have multiplied over the last decade, they added.

An official estimate showed that almost 100 percent of seeds for the important vegetables were imported in the last 2017/18 fiscal year. Share of imported seeds in vegetable segment (minus potato) was 93.12 percent, while for maize share of imported seeds stood at 71.13 percent. For fodder cultivation, dependence on imported seed was calculated at 86.33 percent during the last fiscal year.

Shahzad Ali Malik, founding chairman of Seed Association of Pakistan hoped that the government would announce some reliefs to agriculture sector in the coming budget.

“Customs duty on imported hybrid rice seeds is to promote local production and transfer of technology,” said Malik who attended a meeting with the Prime Minister Imran Khan last week. “Import of hybrid rice seed in India is also banned to promote local production and technology transfer.”

Malik, who also runs a seeds making company, said the country is currently producing hybrid rice seeds to meet 45 percent of local demand.

“We are planning to increase it to 80 percent next year and subsequently in the ensuing year to 100 percent,” he added. Locally-produced seeds are cheap as well as perform better in local harsh weather conditions in various ecological zones, including coastal belt.

Malik hoped that the ministries of commerce and national food security and research would support incentives to local production of seeds. “It is unfortunate that private seed companies including multinationals do not invest in local production of seeds and research and development for seed production.”

Industry people said trading approach of these companies proves counterproductive to competitiveness of the farming sector as well as food security of the country. A number of companies just import seeds and sell them to farmers, while contributing nothing tangible to the agriculture sector of the country.

Ibrahim Mughal, chairman of Agri Forum Pakistan agreed that urgent steps are needed to make seed prices cheaper in the country. “Prices of imported seeds are getting costlier day by day.”

Mughal said there is lack of resources, professional strength and incentives to encourage researchers in public as well as private sectors. “We cannot yield better results without encouraging researchers and breeders.”

Agri Forum Pakistan’s chief said there is also a need to enforce regulatory framework for seeds industry. Establishment of a single and independent seeds body would effectively control quality of seeds and promote business of certified seeds, he added.

The government has taken steps to ensure availability of 50,192 tons of rice seeds as well as 2,757, metric tons of imported seeds in the current sowing season. Overall, 7,799 tons of imported seeds compared to local demands of 28,892 tons would be available this year.