Certification of Foundation Seed & Certified Seed

Foundation seed is the progeny of breeder seed and multiplied at the seed multiplication farms belonging to the Department of Agriculture, (Annexure-4), H.P. CSK H.P. Krishi Vishwa Vidayalaya and Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry and registered growers. Whereas, certified seed is the progeny of Foundation seed and this kind of seed is being produced in the state by the Department of Agriculture H.P. and on Private Growers’ fields. The area of Foundation as well as Certified seed is registered with the H.P. State Seed & Organic Produce Certification Agency. The crops meant for such seed are inspected in the field by the Agency’s staff to ensure that crops are free from diseased plants and there are no off type plants and weeds in such crops. These crops have to fulfill the minimum field standards as per Indian Minimum Seed Certification Standards-2013, prescribed by the Central Seed Certification Board, constituted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India. After the harvesting of the crops, seed samples are taken and tested in the State Seed Testing Laboratories. If the samples of the seeds are found to meet the minimum seed standards, such seeds are allowed to be tagged and sealed by the Agency. The tagging and the sealing is done by the Agency staff observing all possible care to maintain the quality of the seed at the grading centers. The list of grading centers (Seed Processing Plants) is appended at Annexure-5.

During the year under report, (Kharif-2021 & Rabi-2021-22), the foundation and certified seed of different crops was produced in an area of 801.79 ha and 4552.45 ha respectively and the quantity of foundation and certified seed sealed under different crops was 28848.93 qtls and 44515.27 qtls, respectively Annexure-6  Annexure-7. The percentage of area under different group of crops and quantity of seed sealed during Kharif-2021 & Rabi-2021-22 has been depicted from Figure-I to IV, respectively. The area registered and quantity sealed of foundation and certified seed during last two years is given at Annexure-8.

Area Registered and seed sealed since inception

The Agency started the work of certification of seeds of different crops in the year 1979-80. Since its inception, the Agency has registered an area of 1,62,330.259 ha and quantity sealed 51,95,047.575 qtls of foundation and certified seed Annexure-9.