Hyderabad: India's first state-of-the-art vegetable seed health laboratory has come up at Nuthankal, breaking new ground in the seed production sector here in the State.
The facility, which was developed by Syngenta India Private Limited at a cost of Rs 20 cr, will help the City become the seed repository of India amid favourable weather, soils, and geophysical conditions.
The primary aim of the firm is to produce virus-free seeds, a company spokesperson said.
The facility built in an expanse of 6,500 square feet can test about 12,000 samples for bacterial and viral loads every year and can expand the testing capacity over the years, the spokesperson said when asked about the future growth.
While Telangana's seed production sector is considered to hold the allure to draw the global attention, developed countries from Americas and Europe too rely on India for quality seeds. At present, the City is home to about 500 domestic and multinational seed companies.
The lab which was launched Thursday will satisfy the Indian standards for seed health tests. It also has compliance towards international certification programmes.
According to the firm, the lab's local accreditation and export certification is awaited from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). The company said that the facility has been set up as part of its make in India initiative.
Launching the facility, Agriculture Secretary M Raghunandan Rao said the vegetable seed health laboratory has the best infrastructure facilities available.
DK Nagaraju, director of the company, said that the lab was set up with the aim to export full-quality vegetable seeds to the whole world. "This new seed health lab is part of a global network of quality control labs. This state-of-the-art lab will gain prominence as one of the most advanced seed testing facilities in the world," he asserted.
While there are already laboratories of this type in America and the Netherlands, this institute established in Hyderabad is the third one, Nagaraju explained.
"This modern facility has been set up over the area of 6,500 square feet for USD 2.4 million. Every year, this lab can screen up to 12,000 samples for virus or bacterial presence. High-quality healthy seed is the foundation of success in this sector for consumers," Nischint Bhatia, who heads vegetable seeds of the firm's Asia Pacific region, said.
The first seed production company was established in 2009 in Hyderabad by Syngenta group. About 250 scientists, employees, and workers are at present employed in the institution.
Currently operating in more than 60 countries with vegetable seed teams, it has become the most famous company in the world by shipping seeds to 124 countries. Dr DK Srivastava, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Agriculture, commented that every seed offered to a grower should be taken care of. Syngenta should be proud to expand its seed testing services to other seed companies, he added.
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