Odisha approves plan for hybrid rice, maize seed production

The Odisha government plans to scale up hybrid rice and maize seed production in state under Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojna (RKVY) to boost productivity in the state.

Cultivation of hybrid seeds is being done in Odisha for last few years under various state plans in small areas. This year the plan would be implemented under Union government’s RKVY scheme for the first time. The scheme would provide a chance for seed companies to produce hybrid seed in Odisha and the state government would provide subsidies to farmers taking part in the scheme. “Incentives provided to the seed growers is Rs 20,000 per hectare (ha) for paddy and Rs 15,000 per ha for maize,” the state agriculture department said in its approval letter.

The Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production has floated an expression of interest (EOI) tender, inviting seed producing companies to provide seed and train farmers to grow the hybrid variety.

“The producing agencies will buy back the entire seed produced by the grower at a pre-negotiated price. The training cost to seed growers will be borne by the seed producing agency,” said some of conditions on the EOI advertisement. For rice, the state government has planned to cover an area of 12,000 ha for the upcoming rabi crop season. “Rice yield for hybrid seeds in Odisha is higher than its neighbouring state Telangana. We hope the seed companies would be interested to produce hybrid paddy seed in Odisha as the farmers would be subsidised for such effort,” said R S Gopalan, agriculture director with state government. So far, about five companies including global seed producing agency Syngenta and domestic company Nirmal Seeds have shown interest for the project.

Odisha is seventh biggest producer of rice in India with more than seven million tonne output every year. The state produces the crop variety twice a year.

Maize is produced in southern part of the state with most farmers opting for hybrid variety. So there would be muted response to EOI for hybrid maize production, said Gopalan.

“For maize, the response from the companies is rather muted because in Nawarangpur , mostly hybrid variety is grown,” he added.

Corn or maize production is about 800,000 tonne in Odisha with Nawrangpur contributing more than 60 per cent of total production.