In the frame of the project “Indo-German Cooperation on Seed Sector Development” a group of 7 representatives from the Indian Seed Industry visited Germany and the Netherlands from April 7 – 14, 2019. The bilateral project is supporting the exchange of experience and information about international standards & best practices in the seed sector. The topics of exposure visit were focused on plant breeding technologies, quality standards and trends, seed processing technologies for high quality seed production, management of seed production, processing, marketing aspects as well as facilitation of co-operations between Indian and European Seed companies.
The project is part of the bilateral cooperation program of the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and implemented by the consortium of ADT Project Consulting GmbH (ADT) and German Plant Breeders’ Association (BDP). Important activities of the project are consultation, technical training and workshops in India as well as exposure visits of Indian experts to Germany and other European countries. Beside several public institutions of the Indian and German Seed Sector also the National Seed Association of India (NSAI), the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) and the Seedsmen Association Hyderabad (SMA) are partners of the bilateral project.
The one-week study programme consisted of the visit of five plant breeding companies with different size (small, medium and multinational) and large range of services in the seed value chain for different agricultural and vegetable crops. Furthermore a special service provider for plant breeding companies with services on field trials, seed cleaning and certification, seed treatment and bagging, warehouse management and logistics, manufacturing and marketing of seeds has been visited as well as the ISTA accredited public seed laboratory LUFA Nord-West in Hameln, the headquarter office of the German Plant Breeders’ Association (BDP e.V.) in Bonn and last but not least three companies specialised in the manufacture of high quality machinery and equipment for the European and International seed processing industry.
All participants are very happy and thankful about the information and knowledge which they gained during the one-week exposure visit to Europe. The study visit was organized and accompanied by Mr. Ekkehard Schroeder, German Project Team Leader and the national project coordinator Dr. Sowmini Sunkara. All visited companies and public institutions supported the study visit excellent and provided very interesting information about their businesses and technologies as well as insights in the European seed sector.