Seed certification

         Phases of seed certification

Receipt and scrutiny of application

Any person, who wants to produce certified seed, shall register his name with the concerned Assistant Director of Seed Certification by permitting Rs. 25/- per crop, per season. There are 3 seasons under certification viz., kharif (June-September), rabi (October-January) and summer (February-May).

The applicant shall submit two copies of the application to the Assistant Director of Seed Certification 10 days before the commencement of the season or atleast at the time of registration of sowing report. On the receipt of application, the Assistant Director of Seed Certification will verify the time limit, variety, eligibility and its source, the class mentioned, remittance of fee etc., The application, if accepted will be given an application number. The original application is retained and the duplicate is returned to the applicant.

Sowing report

The seed producer who wants to produce certified seeds shall apply to the Assistant Director of Seed Certification in the prescribed sowing report form in quadruplicate with prescribed certification fees along with other documents such as tags to establish the seed source.

 Class of seed                                                            Source of seed                       
1. Foundation class                                                    Breeder seed
2. Certified class                                                         Foundation seed
3. Foundation class stage II                                      Foundation class stage I
4. Certified class stage II                                           certified class stage I

Separate sowing reports are required for different crop varieties, different classes, and different stages and if the seed fields are separated by more than 50meters, separate sowing reports are also required if sowing or planting dates differ by more than 7 days and if the seed farm area exceeds 25 acres. The sowing report shall reach concerned Assistant Director of Seed Certification within 35 days from the date of sowing or 15 days before flowering whichever is earlier. In the case of transplanted crop the sowing report shall be sent 15 days before flowering. The producer shall clearly indicate on the reverse of sowing report, the exact location of the seed farm in a rough sketch with direction, distances marked from a permanent mark like mile stone, building bridge, road, name of the farm if any, crops grown on four sides of the seed farm etc., to facilitate easy identification of the seed farm by the seed certification officer.

The Assistant Director of Seed Certification on receipt of the sowing report, scrutinizes and register the seed farm by giving a seed certification number for each sowing report. Then he will send one copy of the sowing report to the seed certification officer, one to the Deputy Director of Seed Certification and the third to the producer after retaining the fourth copy.

Verification of seed source
           
During first inspection of seed farm the seed certification officer will verify whether the seed used to raise the crop is from an approved source.