Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah, chaired a review meeting of the Bhartiya Beej Sahkari Samiti Limited (BBSSL) in the national capital on Thursday, which was attended by both the MoSs Krishna Pal and Murlidhar Mohol, along with Dr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Pankaj Kumar Bansal, Additional Secretary, and Chairman Yogendra Kumar and Managing Director of BBSSL. Kumar is also the marketing Director of co-op titan IFFCO.
Speaking on the occasion, Shah highlighted the pivotal role of BBSSL in achieving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of “Sehkar Se Samriddhi” (Prosperity through Cooperation) and empowering farmers.
He underscored the importance of collecting and preserving India’s traditional seeds and urged BBSSL to connect with an additional 20,000 cooperatives by 2025-26. Shah emphasized the production of seeds requiring minimal water and pesticides to benefit small farmers by ensuring higher yields and extended crop maturity periods.
He praised BBSSL’s progress in preserving India’s traditionally nutritious seeds and called on organizations like IFFCO and KRIBHCO to evaluate the nutritional value of both indigenous and hybrid seeds.
Shah stressed the need to promote and preserve less commonly used traditional seeds while simultaneously increasing the production of pulses and oilseeds without compromising their nutritional quality.
Shah also encouraged IFFCO and KRIBHCO to enhance their laboratories, making them benchmarks in the field of seed research. He urged all cooperative institutions to motivate farmers to use certified seeds for farming.
Highlighting the widespread support for BBSSL, Shah noted that over 20,000 cooperative societies from 34 states and union territories are shareholders in the organization. He urged BBSSL to collaborate with government university scientists and laboratories to advance seed production, research, and promotion.
The minister also emphasized the need to prepare a 10-year roadmap for achieving seed production goals, with periodic reviews.
BBSSL is producing foundation and certified seeds over 5,596 hectares across six states for Rabi 2024, with an expected yield of 1,64,804 quintals of seeds from 49 varieties of eight crops. Since its inception, BBSSL has sold and distributed 41,773 quintals of seeds, including wheat, groundnut, oats, and berseem, valued at Rs 41.50 crore. The organization has set an ambitious target to achieve a turnover of Rs 18,000 crore by 2032-33.
This meeting underscores the government’s commitment to strengthening the cooperative movement and ensuring the sustainable growth of India’s agricultural sector.
