Importance and advantage of using certified seed by farmers

Certified seed is a seed of known variety produced under strict seed certification standards to maintain varietal purity. The process design to deliver specific plant breeding achievement to farmers and the food industry . In other words, it is true to type.

Food safety and traceability are important consideration in agriculture, using certified seed will allow us to capitalize on traceability measures, New genetics, Improved trial such as better yield, pest resistance, drought tolerance, herbicide tolerance, and much more are delivered to farmers in certified seed.  Certified seed are also free of prohibited noxious weed seeds . Growers who invest in certified seed not only take the advantage of new advancement in seed technology , but also guarantee themselves less risk of seed borne and soil borne disease infection and low germination rates.

 Reason to use certified seed by farmers :

It’s the starting point of successful crop as well as an important risk management tool.

• Clean seed: Certified seed is grown and processed under stringent production requirement with strict limits on weeds and other crop kinds.
• Varietal purity: Certified seed uses strictly monitored quality management system to maximize varietal purity, making sure to get specific variety we want . Other varieties and off types are guaranteed to be minimized.
• Guarantee quality assurance: Inspection in the field and at the processing plant ensure that all quality assurance requirement have been met and documented.
• Access to new opportunity: Many end users require specific varieties for the products. Using certified seed can open the door to nee opportunities and greater sales by providing officially recognised parent seed varietal identity.
• Traceability: Food safety and traceability are important consideration on agriculture, using certified seed will allow to capitalize on traceability measures.
• New genetics : Improve traits such as better yield, pest resistance, drought tolerance, herbicide tolerance and much more are delivered to farmers in certified seed. Years of research and development went into those traits and can only be reliably accessed through certified seed.
• Access to premium market : Certified seed is the only input that can be more than just higher yields .
• A better deal on crop insurance : In some cases, certified seed allows to get a better deal on crop insurance premium. Insurance know that certified seed means a crop with reduced risk.

Advantages of certified seed

Farmers who use certified seed receives higher quality seeds as a prerequisite for achieving higher yields (10-30%). The use of certified seed prevent the spread of weed species via seed, thereby reducing the number of treatment required with herbicide while reducing costs. Many disease of cultivated plants are transferred via seed, which is why it is important to use seeds with required health and specific purity. only seeds processed and treated at registered processing facilities are able to meet the prerequisites required for a health and bountiful crop seed processed at registered centres is at considerably higher level in terms of uniformity of seed and seed quality than the seed saved by farmers from their own production.

Thus, the use of certified seed should be encouraged particularly self-pollinating plants, where the use of farm saved seen is most common (wheat , soy) .  In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to stimulate the use certified seed among farmers and educate them on all the advantage of using certified seed. Until awareness is raised among farmers on the use of certified seeds. Use of such seed will not increase.

About the Author:
Sujata Poudel; B.Sc. Ag
Lamjung Campus
Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science