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Bulk of India's seed industry likely to adopt mechanisation in storage
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Tuesday, 18 December, 2012, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, Mumbai
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fiogf49gjkf0d Gubba Cold Storage, a Hyderabad-based company which is celebrating its silver jubilee, said more than 80 per cent of India's seed industry – estimated to be worth over Rs 12,000 crore – will move towards mechanisation in storage in the next few years.
At a press meet on the company's premises, experts said, “The seed industry is getting dynamic and it is critical to move on to world-class storage facilities.” Gubba Kiran, director, Gubba Cold Storage, said, “We are proud to be associated with the leading names in the Indian seed industry.”
It is the only cold storage company in the country to offer a variety of services, including germicidal irradiation, ozone fumigation, power-saving peltier refrigeration and kinetic mean temperature.
“Over the years, we have created immense value for out partners. At 83 lakh c ft, we are India's largest seed storage facility and provide world-class services to our valued customers,” Gubba said.
He added that over 200 companies store their parental seed and germ plasm – which are of very high value – at Gubba Cold Storage, which has ten facilities in Hyderabad and offers nation-wide networked solutions to its clients.
Gubba Nagendra Rao, managing director, Gubba Cold Storage, and Gubba Prashanth, the company's joint director, also addressed the press, as did Vidyasagar Parchuri, chairman, Vibha Agrotech Ltd, and G V Bhaskar Rao, managing director, Kaveri Seeds Company Pvt Ltd.
We Support GM Crops
Gubba Cold Storage also launched the We Support GM Crops campaign, an attempt to sensitise its various stakeholders in the country to highlight the need for integration of biotechnology in agriculture.
“We feel, given the challenges of agriculture including the diminishing land bank, depleting water tables, migration of labourers to urban areas and declining margins to farmers, that we must adopt GM crops and deliver their benefits to farmers and consumers,” Nagendra Rao said.
He added, “As a critical player in the seed industry, we feel it is important for us to address the many misconceptions about GM crops. This campaign is designed to sensitise stakeholders on the various benefits we are likely to gain as a result of the adoption of GM crops.”
Seed bank
The company will set up a seed bank – the first in the private sector – with an investment of Rs 4 crore. “It is a fire, water and earthquake-proof facility that can keep seeds safe for 50 years,” Kiran stated.
He added that the company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Crops Research Institute for Sem-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) – which runs a seed bank on its Patanchenu campus near Hyderabad – for technical support.
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