K Keshavulu Appointed as Vice-President of International Seed Testing Association

K Keshavulu, Director of the Telangana State Seed and Organic Certification Authority (TISSOCA), has been appointed as Vice-President of the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA). He is not only the first Indian but also first from any Asian country to hold one of the top executive posts in ISTA.

Dr. Keshavulu elevation in International Seed Testing Association is expected to help strengthen the seed testing policies, improve seed testing infrastructure in tune with ISTA norms, get ISTA recognition to seed testing labs in the country, enhance seed quality and better collaboration with other nations in seed technology. He was elected to ISTA executive committee as the Member at Large in 2016. The Ministry of Agriculture has already appointed him as the nodal officer to pursue country’s membership in European Equivalence, the seed certification agency for European countries, for export of Indian seed to European Union countries and the process is in progress.

Mr. Keshavulu is also tipped to be appointed as the next president of ISTA at its 33rd Congress to be held in New Zealand in 2022 as is the practice in the organisation. He will hold the vice president’s post for a three-year term.

Steve Jones of Canada, who has been the vice president till the election of the new executive body, has been elected president for the 2019-2022 term. The new committee will also have immediate past president Craig McGill of New Zealand and eight others as members at Large representing Zimbabwe, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Philippines, Finland and Argentina.

A resident of erstwhile undivided Warangal district, Mr. Keshavulu has played a key role in commencing seed exports under the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) programme in 2016 from Telangana. Incidentally, Telangana is the first State in the country to export seed to OECD countries such as Egypt, Sudan, Philippines, Russia, Italy and Tanzania. Besides, seed from Telangana certified by TSSOCA is also being supplied to 10 other States in the country for the past four years.