FAO chief impressed with Telangana’s seed production

Telangana Seeds Development Corporation (TSSDC) Managing Director and International Seed Testing Association vice president Dr Keshavulu met with the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Qu Dongyu at its headquarters in Rome, and apprised him of the strides that Telangana had made in the field of quality seed production.
According to a statement here on Thursday, Dr Keshavulu handed over a specially made information brochure about the capacity of seed production and the scope for producing quality seed in the State to the FAO chief. “The Chief of FAO was impressed when I told him that Telangana produces 60 per cent of the country’s seed requirement and over 400 seed companies churn out Rs 5,000 crore business through exports to other countries from the State,” Dr Keshavulu said, adding that over 3 lakh farmers from 1,500 villages produce seeds in 7 lakh acres of land.
Qu Dongyu observed that Telangana farmers were not only producing quality seed but were also are helping other farmers produce better yield. “Quality seed can change the world as good seed only can yield more, there by satisfying the hunger of the growing population of the world,” the FAO chief observed.
While appreciating Telangana for conducting a workshop on Seed Export in Hyderabad for African countries, the FAO chief said that his organisation had chosen seed as major contributor in the alleviation of hunger in poor countries.
The TSSDC chief further said that he discussed the issue of production of seed for export to the South East Asian countries from Telangana by implementing similar production techniques and following similar seed regulations. “The FAO officers then advised us that Telangana must take the imitative of organising regional seed meetings with the help of FAO so that a similar seed regime can be created in all the south east Asian countries,” Dr Keshavulu said.
Indo African Platform
Similarly Telangana is also keen on benefitting from an Indo African platform considering the same type of climatic and agri-zonal systems in both the regions. It was proposed that Telangana can benefit by encouraging small and medium sized seed producing companies in India and Africa to improve bilateral trade.
“The proposed Indo African platform will help in the exchange of ideas and technology helping both the countries to produce more hardy seed,” he said.
The meeting in Rome also helped in preparing a road map for organising more meetings with the help of FAO to further improve seed production in Telangana by imparting training in the use of technology in seed production, and prepare a better seed policy for the State.

Source : telanganatoday