India: Vegetable Seeds Industry To Double In 5 Years

The domestic vegetable seeds industry is expected to grow by 100 per cent to around Rs. 8,000-crore in the next five years on account of demand for higher vegetable production and greater use of hybrid seeds, according to ratings firm ICRA.

“Given the constraints on increasing the area under cultivation, the growth would come through productivity augmentation, of which a major part has to be driven by greater adoption of hybrid seeds in cultivation of vegetable crops. ICRA estimates that with the growth in volumes as well as value (on the back of hybridisation), the size of the vegetable seeds industry would double from the current levels to around Rs. 8,000-crore in the next five years – registering a CAGR of around 10 per cent,” said Mr. Sachin Sachdeva of ICRA.

Over the last 25 years, vegetable crops output has nearly trebled to an estimated 181-mn tonnes (mt) in 2017-18 from 59-mt in 1991-92.