Overview

The National Seed Congress

Seeds are essential for empowering farmers to address pressing agricultural challenges. The production and distribution of quality, affordable seeds are key to agricultural development and ensuring seed security, which strengthens farmers' livelihoods and reinforces India’s food and nutrition security. Evolving policies have catalyzed demand for quality planting material, and innovations in seed extension, rising farmer incomes, and community-led seed production are driving growth. Formalizing seed systems to meet farmers’ needs and ensuring better access to seeds are crucial for transforming the seed sector in developing countries.

NSC 2024, being co-organized by IRRI South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) and the National Seed Research and Training Center (NSRTC), is a platform that brings together researchers, experts, policymakers, government officials, private sector, farmers, students and other stakeholders from the seed sector to dive deep and engage in dialogue deliberations on subjects impacting the seed sector. NSC 2024 will be built on some of the discussions and deliberations from the previous year’s conference and is touted to produce tangible outputs for the growth of the seed sector.

Fostering Regional Cooperation, Partnership, and Knowledge Exchange in the Seed Sector

The objectives of the NSC 2024 are:

  • Create a platform for different stakeholders from the seed sector to share and exchange innovations being curated around different domains of the seed systems in India.
  • Reflect on the system’s capacity and priorities to meet the emerging needs of the seed sector.
  • Deliberate on the progress and growing new interest in public-private partnerships in seed business.
  • Devloping valuable discourses on scaling strategies through community engagement.
  • Formulate a roadmap for sustainable growth of the seed sector in India.