TWO official institutions — the Punjab Seed Corporation and the Breeders of Maize and Millet Research Institute — last week launched the first hybrid seed of the maize crop.

And it was claimed that the yield is projected to be around 100 maunds per acre, against the current average of 62 maunds. The price of the seed is only 25pc of what multinationals sell it at, and the seed is stated to work in both seasons — autumn and winter. Finally, it is slated to be better calibrated to climatic changes. Even if the new seed comes close to these claims, the Punjab government deserves credit.

In the last one decade, Punjab’s maize yield has multiplied. It jumped from less than 1m tonnes at the turn of the century to currently over 4m tonnes, or an increase of over 400pc within a decade.

No other crop matches this climb in acreage and yield. Acreage rose from around 1m to just over 1.5m acres, while yield jumped from around 22 maunds to over 62 maunds per acre. The entire boom came from the imported seed, which is currently costing farmers over Rs5bn.

Multinationals have reigned supreme for the last decade, but the Punjab Seed Corporation has thrown the first challenge to that monopoly. How it fares, only time would tell. But its start seems to have been promising, at least according to officials, breeders and some of the farmers.

What the corporation needs to do next is push the Punjab government to come up with the long overdue new seed act, which would ensure breeders’ rights. The corporation and the government are now direct stakeholders in the business, which can multiply quickly and become a source of substantial income for it and the farmers.

The PSC is selling the new seed at Rs2,500 per acre, against the multinationals’ price of Rs10,000. This reduction in the cost of seed means almost 10 maunds of additional production in terms of yield

Apart from the legal side, the Punjab Seed Corporation (PSC) and its allied bodies should also make sure that this seed is not prematurely released in the market, as was the case with its previous efforts, which killed the initiative in the bud. Premature releases of seeds discourage new entrants, who never know how many new varieties would be thrown in the market by the time they are able to multiply their seed — the process takes around a decade to fully exploit the yield and financial potential of the variety.

Many provincial government employees have been found running parallel seed businesses at the cost of their organisations. Even some of the seeds being sold in the market were named after officials of the Punjab government. Unless such activities are dealt with, things can unravel quickly — even for the current maize effort.

The PSC has a weak marketing side. Some farmers allege that it was deliberately kept weak to allow the flourishing of insiders’ business. One proof of the weak market study is the timing of the launch of the current seed. It came at the end of February, when winter-sowing has almost been completed. Had it been launched two months ago, things could have looked much brighter.

The corporation has now entered the high-tech business of hybrid seed. It is time to revamp it according to the needs of modern business.

One needs to support provincial seed corporations because they have a social responsibility, in addition to business development. That is why the PSC is selling its new seed at Rs2,500 per acre, against the multinationals’ price of Rs10,000. This reduction in the cost of seed means almost 10 maunds of additional production in terms of yield, which would bring the cost of production down and put some extra money in the farmers’ pockets.

This year, it claims to have already sold around 10pc of the total seed requirement of the province. If this increased, it would give it additional financial muscle to expand in the right direction. The provincial government now needs to chip in to keep things on the right track for the corporation and the farmers.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, March 2nd , 2015

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