RA 00048.pdf - OAR@ICRISAT

Sorghum Seed Production and Distribution
K. R. Chopra*
Grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor, (L) Moench] is a
staple food of a large section of the population in
India and Africa. It is also extensively grown in the
United States, parts of Central and South America,
China, Pakistan and to a lesser extent in South
east Asia, the USSR, and Europe. Although India
has the largest area in the world sown to
sorghum, it ranks second to USA in production.
Sorghum is primarily used for human consumption
in developing countries and for livestock feed
in developed countries. As with consumption, the
production techniques vary greatly.
Most farmers in developed countries are educated.
They have acquired improved human skills
and managerial abilities. They practice efficient
scientific agriculture and possess means to acquire
new technology quickly. They are cognizant
of the fact that no agricultural practices can
improve the crop beyond the limits set by the
seed, hence they mostly use seeds of high
yielding and adapted hybrids for planting.
To cater for the enormous seed needs of the
farmer-consumers, a specialized industry largely
operated by commercial firms has developed to
produce, process and market hybrid sorghum
seeds.
The developing countries can be grouped into
two distinct seed categories. First, there are those
where research has developed superior hybrids
and/or improved varieties and the necessary
infrastructure to systematically produce and distribute
quality seeds although most farming is yet at
subsistence level. Government departments and
private seed companies through their extension
agencies have convinced some of the farmers to
plant improved seeds and use scientific cultivation
technology. Thus the farmers have been benefited
and there is a slow but steady switch-over to
* Director, Research and Production, Mahendra Hybrid
Seeds Company (P) Ltd., Post Box No. 52, Mahavir
Marg, Jalna 431 203, Maharashtra, India.
improved seeds. Second, in many developing
countries, the farmers save their own seed for
next year's planting. These farmers are mostly
illiterate and slow to adopt new technology. The
technical know-how and infrastructure to multiply
hybrid seeds is nonexistent. Limited quantities of
improved variety seed is multiplied by government
agencies and distributed free or at highly
subsidized prices.
A seed program capable of providing farmers
with good quality seed is essential to a nation's
agricultural development. To be effective, such a
program must be carefully tuned to the nature of
farming in the country. As complex multi-cropping
and intercropping systems are introduced, reliable
seed supplies become more important. Regular
supplies of seed of new crops and improved
varieties should flow to farmers through an ever
enlarging pipeline. Further, if the seed program is
to succeed, the seed must be consistently better
than the seed produced by the farmers themselves.
The seed program is, therefore, to be organized
with the objective of planning, producing and
making available to the farmers adequate quantities
of high quality, genetically stable and pure
seed of improved and adapted varieties, free from
seed-borne parasites, and at a reasonable price.
Seed production is thus a specialized and exacting
task requiring standard conditions and proper
supervision at different stages of production.
The type of seed production program to be
developed in a country depends mostly on the
social, economic and political circumstances of
the country. The type can be official, semiofficial,
cooperative, private, or a combination of these.
In most advanced countries, the seed enterprises
are in the private sector. Many seed
companies, some even multi-national, compete
with each other to produce and supply seeds
mostly of sorghum hybrids or of improved
varieties. Many have created strong research
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. 1982. Sorghum in the Eighties: Proceedings of the International
Symposium on Sorghum, 2-7 Nov 81. Patancheru, A.P., India. Patancheru, A.P. India: ICRISAT.
499