A Study of Different Aspects of Pricing of Seed

A major contribution of the High0Yielding Varieties (HYVs) Programme is the interest it has awakened among the farmers to depend on certified seed as an important input to increase their production. The growth of the seed industry was rather slow in the intial stages from 1963 to 1965. There was then a rapid exapnsion from 1966 to 1969. However, the phase of rapid growth proved to be a short-lived phenomenon. The accumulation of excess or unsold stocks of hybrid jowar and hybrid maize seed during 1969 and 1970 resulted in huge storage losses to the seed agencies, and resulted in reduced seed production acreasges of these crops in 1970-71, even though the total acreage has not planted to HYVs. This situation attracted the ateention of the leading economists in the country in 1969/ A.M. Khusro pointed out that "as for high-yielding carieties, they were not there until the other day, and such improved varieties that did exist were not in good demand"