The Variety Identification Committee (VIC) headed by ICAR’s Deputy Director General (DDG) is said to have recommended release of 80 varieties of cotton, as many as 78 by the private sector, out of the 91 varieties it received for approval.
However, the final approval for their release for commercial cultivation will depend on what the Agriculture Secretary, as Chairman of Central Seed Committee, decides amid objections raised by Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan about such ‘uncontrolled’ release. The 11 varieties not recommended by the VIC included Bollgard II technology seeds of Rallis India, Rasi Seeds, Indo American Hybrid Seeds (India) and Veda Seeds. The list of rejected varieties also includes two seeds, each developed by ICAR’s Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) and Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (Parbhani, Maharashtra) using Bollgard I. Except Veda Seeds and CICR, some other varieties of these companies have also been approved. Among those cleared are one from Crystal Crop Protection, two of Nuziveedu Seeds, five of Ankur Seeds, seven of Mahyco, and eight of Kaveri Seed Company, sources said.
Experts said that the system of seed approval itself is faulty as the DDG (Crop Science) of the ICAR or his nominee chairs the VIC whereas he also heads the Central Variety Release Committee for agriculture crops. While the VIC recommends to the CVRC, the latter further recommends to the Central Seed Committee under the Agriculture Secretary. At the stakeholders meeting, Chouhan had said: “We want cotton productivity to increase, we should reach the world average and we should be able to produce the kind of cotton that the industry needs today — long staple.” He had said that there were good results from the high density cotton farming and the country would move towards it more rapidly.
“ICAR will do research as per the requirement of the farmers, the type of seeds required and the type of cotton required by the industry. Research will be done only for such seeds, for such varieties,” he said adding that production of seeds has to be increased based on the demand of the cotton industry. India’s cotton production dropped to 30.69 million bales (of 170 kg each) in 2024-25 from 35.25 million bales in 2020-21. While a key factor for the decline was a fall in the area as farmers shifted to other crops, there are also issues of crop damage due to pest attack, lowering yield.
News Courtesy : Press reader.