11th Edition of NSAI's Indian Seed Congress 2023 Kickstarts Today

Indian Seed Congress 2023, the 11th edition of the Annual Global Seed Industry, is being currently organised by the National Seed Association of India (NSAI) in national capital New Delhi from today onwards. The 3-day summit attracts delegates from all major stakeholders including industry (seed & allied), policymakers, developmental agencies, scientific community, and farmer organisations.

Ashish Bahuguna, former secretary of department of agriculture attended first day of the event as the chief guest in the event. Apart from this, 5 sessions of 'seed conference' took place of day 1 of the summit, wherein the first session regarding global integration and development of seeds was discussed.

Dr. Arvind Kumar, Deputy Director General Research ICRESAT, Rajshree Roy, Economic Advisor, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Dr. Sudhanshu Singh, Director IARI South Regional Center, Kentaro Takahashi, Deputy Director Climate and Energy, India Institute for Global Environment Strategies took part in this discussion.

On the occassion, Dr. Kumar said that in 2020 the demand for millet was USD 9.95 billion globally, which would reach USD 14.14 billion by 2028, since people are preferring to eat gluten-free food globally in Blue Nutritious Diet. At present, the consumer is preferring to eat chemical-free food, due to which the demand for organic millet has also increased. It is anticipated the demand can increase up to 29.7 per cent.

Dr. Sudhanshu Singh said that IRRI has partnered with other countries through regional cooperation to take the seeds globally. Through this agreement, seed exchange will increase in other countries including India, which includes Fiji, Philippines, Vietnam, East African Countries, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan Bangladesh, Indonesia Cambodia, and more.

As per NSAI's official website, Indian Seed Congress is its annual flagship event. It is the biggest seed congress of South East Asia bringing together industry, scientists & governments from across the globe. ISC showcases the latest trends and views of the seed sector, voices their concerns, deliberates on new technological advances to tackle obstacles to growth.

ISC is an innovation hub where the barriers are removed and new technology development and innovations are introduced.