ISARC hosts first international hands-on training on quality seed production

29 October 2017. IRRI South Asia Regional Centre (ISARC) informally opened its offices at the National Seed Research and Training Center (NSRTC) Campus in Varanasi, India.

ISARC will serve as IRRI’s center for capacity building in agriculture, particularly on rice-based systems in the South Asian and African regions.

A robust seed system is the backbone of agricultural developments and to start its operations, ISARC hosted its first international training on quality seed production. The training aimed to strengthen the agriculture and seed sector of the country. It also provided a hands-on training for technical knowledge on quality rice seed production, and addressed problems that farmers, researchers, and seed production agencies commonly encounter.

Through the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, India’s government sponsored 10 participants from their country, and 15 from Cambodia. The participants represent government research and development institutions, as well as public-private organizations.

During the sessions, experts from different organizations gave presentations about India's seed system, seed and rice morphology, the growth stages of rice, management of seeds, best practices in its production, and pointers on certification and quality control. 

Participants were also exposed to a rigorous hands-on training that enabled them to better understand the process of quality seed production. During the exercise, they learned how to select representative panicles to sow directly in raised beds, row transplanting, roguing during all the growth stages for nucleus seed production, select high quality seeds, and handle the breeder seed production from sowing to maturity. To learn more about rice-based cropping systems, they visited the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research.

The training is expected to help farmers improve their crop management skills, which will lead to better harvest.

Dr. A. Vaishampayan, Director of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, opened the training session and experts from different organizations gave presentations. They are Dr. J.P. Tandon from ICAR, Dr. S. Selvaraj and Dr. R.K. Trivedi from MOAFW, GOI, Dr. Sudhanshu Singh and Dr. R.K. Singh from IRRI, and Dr. P.K. Singh from BHU. The hands-on training was coordinated by Drs. R.K. Singh and P.K. Singh of IRRI, and Dr. R.K. Sahu of the National Rice Research Institute in Cuttack.  

Cambodian representatives remarked that “this training is an eye-opener for us. Though communication was a challenge, the hands-on exercise helped us better understand the importance of seed quality in producing rice”. 

In his closing address, Dr. Arvind N. Singh said, “this training initiative is very useful in developing seed expertise and entrepreneurship among farmers in this region. The skills they learned will help them improve their livelihoods, which will benefit the society as a whole”.

The 4-day training was jointly organized by ISARC, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), and NSRTC, and was coordinated by Mr. T.C. Dhoundiyal, IRRI’s Project Manager for South Asia's Stress Tolerant Rice Program.

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