Quality Seed Production- A Paradigm Shift Towards Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Excessive and ever increasing population is the growing concern from last few years and it is creating major pressure in Agriculture sector of our country. Meeting the adequate food requirement of the huge population is necessary, but due to several adverse factors, production systems are facing many problems. Limited arable land resources, excessive use of chemical fertilizers, land degradation, cultivation with poor quality seeds, lack of proper seed replacement, are some of the major concerns for which not only the production of food materials in sufficient quantity is being affected but also the quality seed production is getting invaded badly. Quality seed is a vital input for crop production. It is the cheapest input and the key to progress towards the development of sustainable agriculture. Response of different inputs and final crop output depends to a large extent on the seed material used for sowing purpose. Thus, for better production, profit and sustainability, use of genetically and physiologically pure, vigorous, climate adaptive and less disease pest prone seeds are required in one hand along with good seed replacement rate, qualitative seed stock, proper seed certification etc. are very much crucial to unfold the potential yield performance of species and varieties and hence, the article is emphasized on the quality seed production in agriculture.