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English Version:
Arabic Version:
CONTRIBUTIONS from SEED PROGRAMS and PROJECTS
Pakistan: Emerging Seed Sector For Investment
Introduction
Agriculture is a vital sector of the economy contributing 25% to GDP and employing
50% of labor force. Land resources are meager and holding sizes are small.
Despite the constraints surplus wheat is being produced and the agricultural
sector continues to have a major share in total export of industrial products.
Cotton and rice are the main export commodities and in 2001 constituted 61
and 6.3% of export earnings, respectively. Agriculture is the main supplier
of raw materials for agro-based industries producing semi-manufactured and
finished goods leading to tremendous transformation in the sector and providing
job opportunities for millions of people.
Privatization and Liberalization
The Government has adopted a vigorous liberalization policy and encouraged
private sector investment in agriculture. It has allowed import and export
of all agricultural commodities by the private sector and given special incentives
for the private sector to produce and supply inputs. Leasing of agricultural
land initially for 30 years with further extension to 20 years to multinationals
is now possible under the corporate agricultural farming guidelines.
National Seed Sector
and Policy
In 1976, the seed industry project was established by the public sector. The
national seed project was launched with an investment of US$ 60 million through
the assistance of the World Bank and FAO. The national seed policy is aimed
at ensuring unrestricted access of all farmers to high quality seed at the
right time and reasonable price and the development of competitive market
practices for fair return on investment by the private sector. At present,
seed of various crops is produced, processed and distributed both by public
and private sectors. The Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department
provides seed quality control and certification services.
Crop Variety Development
and Scope for Investment
Crop variety development remains within the domain of public research institutes.
The registration of varieties following DUS test is the responsibility of
FSCRD. The new variety is approved by the National Seed Council and is notified
by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. About 364 crop varieties
have been registered and computerized in variety data bank of FSCRD (Table
1).
Plant breeding is a long process. Crop variety development needs huge investment and it is not easy to calculate the exact cost of each variety/hybrid. In Pakistan, an estimated expenditure for the development of crop varieties is given in Table 1. In the public sector, the expenditure on variety development is borne by the Government, whereas this is not the case with the private sector. The private sector undertakes the development of varieties provided that they are assured of adequate return on their investments. Therefore, legal variety protection is required to attract private sector investment in plant breeding. This demands the protection of their varieties against unauthorized commercial exploitation. Draft legislation for plant breeders' rights was prepared by FSCRD and is actively pursued for enactment by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Livestock. There are huge investment opportunities in crops such as maize, millet, vegetable crops, fodder and forages (Table 1).
Table 1. Number of crop varieties registered and released from 1947 to 2002in Pakistan
|
Crop
|
Number
of Varieties
|
Estimated
Cost/Variety
(Rs m) |
||
|
Wheat
|
78
|
-
|
78
|
2.7
|
|
Rice
|
29
|
-
|
29
|
-
|
|
Barley
and Oats
|
11
|
-
|
11
|
-
|
|
Pulses
|
41
|
-
|
41
|
-
|
|
Oilseed
|
38
|
5
|
43
|
-
|
|
Maize1
& millet
|
22
|
2
|
24
|
2.8
|
|
Potato
|
11
|
-
|
11
|
-
|
|
Vegetable
|
32
|
-
|
32
|
-
|
|
Fodder
and forage
|
11
|
1
|
12
|
2.3
|
|
Cotton
|
61
|
-
|
61
|
6.8
|
|
Sugarcane
|
22
|
-
|
22
|
-
|
|
Total
|
356
|
8
|
364
|
-
|
|
NB:
1Hybrid variety will cost Rs 7.5 million ($1=60 Rs)
|
||||
Seed Production and
Marketing
Seed production and marketing is handled both by public and private sectors.
The private sector was allowed to enter seed business since 1979. In 1994,
the Government declared seed business at par with the other industries. To
date 376 public and private seed companies are operating in the country (Table
2).
Seed Quality Control
and Certification
The FSCRD is lead institution in seed related activities in collaboration
with public and private sectors. FSCRD performs the following functions under
the Seed Act, 1976 and Seed (Truth-in-Labeling) Rules, 1991:(a) registration
of new crop varieties; (b) seed quality control and certification; (c) enforcement
of seed act and regulations; and (d) providing training and dissemination
of information on seed science and technology. Although the Department has
limited resources and manpower it has managed to create awareness about seed
among various stakeholders. FSCRD has 82 graduates (7PhD, 74 MSc and 1 BSc)
and 225 technical and support staff.
| Province/Territory |
Public
Sector
|
Private
Sector
|
Total | |
| Punjab |
1
|
328
|
4
|
333
|
| Sindh |
1
|
27
|
1
|
29
|
| NWFP |
1
|
5
|
-
|
6
|
| Balochistan |
1
|
3
|
-
|
4
|
| Islamabad |
-
|
3
|
-
|
3
|
| Gilgit |
-
|
1
|
-
|
1
|
| Total |
4
|
367
|
5
|
376
|
Investment in Seed Processing
In 1976, four seed processing plants were installed with an annual capacity
of 103,000 tonnes for crops like wheat, rice, maize and cotton. In 1979, the
private sector was encouraged to invest in seed processing plants to increase
the capacity. The processing facility has now increased from 12.2% to cover
35.4% of the estimated seed requirement by installing 143 seed processing
plants with a total investment cost of Rs 818.7 million (Table 3). The seed
storage capacity can meet 18.2% of the estimated potential seed requirement.
Investment Potential
in Seed Sector
With the induction of private sector seed availability of major crops has
improved (8 to 17.3%) but it is still below the desired level for many crops.
There is great potential for investment in vegetables, oilseeds, fodder and
forages and pulse crops (Table 4).
In Pakistan, the value of seed available from formal sector is about US$561.1 million. The seed required to fill the gap is estimated at US$437.9 million, a huge potential for investment. Although, seed storage capacity has increased to 18%, an additional facility for 250,000 tonnes requires an investment of US$ 13.2 million.
Table 3. Seed processing and storage capacity (1000 tonnes), 2001
| Sector |
Seed
Processing
|
Seed
Storage
|
||
|
No.
of Plants
|
Cost
(Rs M)
|
Capacity
(t)
|
Capacity
(t.)
|
|
| Public Sector |
36
|
178.9
|
216.2
|
50.6
|
| National |
103
|
229.8
|
239.5
|
178.8
|
| MultiNnational |
4
|
410.0
|
19.4
|
14.3
|
| Total |
143
|
818.7
|
475.1
|
243.7
|
Table 4. Estimated national seed requirement and potential seed market (1000 tonnes) in 2000/01
| Crop | National Seed reqired |
Seed
available
|
Gap
(%)
|
|||
|
Local
|
Import
|
Total
|
%
|
|||
| Wheat |
846.2
|
161.4
|
-
|
161.4
|
19.1
|
80.9
|
| Cotton |
59.3
|
32.0
|
-
|
32.0
|
54.0
|
46.0
|
| Gram |
38.9
|
0.23
|
-
|
0.23
|
0.5
|
99.4
|
| Paddy |
50.3
|
3.82
|
-
|
3.82
|
7.6
|
92.4
|
| Lentil |
1.1
|
0.001
|
-
|
0.001
|
0.1
|
99.9
|
| Mung |
4.4
|
0.3
|
-
|
0.3
|
6.9
|
93.1
|
| Potato |
221
|
0.4
|
0.83
|
1.2
|
0.5
|
99.5
|
| Maize |
26.8
|
2.1
|
3.143
|
5.2
|
19.5
|
80.5
|
| Canola |
0.7
|
0.1
|
0.04
|
0.1
|
20.1
|
79.9
|
| Sunflower |
1.3
|
0.1
|
0.36
|
0.5
|
36.4
|
63.6
|
| Soybean |
0.8
|
0.1
|
-
|
0.1
|
12.9
|
87.0
|
| Fodders |
14.5
|
0.04
|
10.98
|
11.0
|
76.1
|
23.9
|
| Vegetable |
5.1
|
0.2
|
3.37
|
3.6
|
70.34
|
29.7
|
| Total |
1270.4
|
200.8
|
18.7
|
219.4
|
17.3
|
82.7
|
Human Resources in
Agriculture and Seed Sector
The national seed industry has generated new employment opportunities where
over 24,500 professionals (including technical and support staff) are working
both in public and private sectors (Table 3). It is expected that the seed
industry will become one of the leading employers in the country.
About 1562 scientists are working in research and 2336 in education in the agricultural sector excluding veterinary sciences. From this total 665 are working directly or indirectly in seed related issues. In Pakistan, at the end of 2000, staff from agricultural research institutes (97), colleges/universities of agricultural sciences (129) and the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department (100) altogether contributed about 326 scientific publications.
Table 5. Manpower in national seed sector, 2001
| Institution/Sector |
Staff
number and qualification
|
||||
|
Professional
|
Technical
|
Support
|
Dealers
|
Total
|
|
| Public Sector |
76
|
33
|
707
|
2003
|
2819
|
| Multinationals |
177
|
90
|
165
|
702
|
1134
|
| Private Sector |
426
|
305
|
1216
|
7902
|
9849
|
| FSCRD |
82
|
38
|
187
|
302
|
|
| Total |
761
|
466
|
2275
|
10607
|
14109
|
| NB: Normally two employees work with each seed dealer shop | |||||
Seed Association/Societies
The FSCRD played a proactive role in providing a forum for interaction among
public and private seed companies. The emerging seed market created awareness
and the private sector has established its associations to play more active
role in partnership with the public sector. There are six seed trade associations
representing multinational seed companies, national private seed companies,
seed merchants and traders and one professional seed society. Such organizations
will enhance the investment culture within the country and with the foreign
companies. A. Rauf Bhutta and A. Hussain, FSCRD, G-9/4, Islamabad-44000;
E-mail: fscd@seed.isb.sdnpk org.
***
