Owing to the increased acceptance of high-quality seeds, smart agriculture and new product penetration across the globe, the hybrid seeds’ market is continuing to evolve. The global hybrid seeds’ market is developing due to the rise in adoption of biotechnology in smart agriculture to fulfill the increased demand for high-quality seed to boost crop yield. Agencies such as the World Bank, USAID, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation render financial and technical assistance in the early development of seeds in order to strengthen breeding, seed processing & quality control.
These are essential to the growth and development of the industry. Furthermore, most seed breeding organizations have undertaken extensive R&D initiatives with an aim to make the resulting crops disease-resistant and these businesses are devoting resources to the development of disease detection systems.
One such company that renders superior seed solutions by harnessing technology and innovation to create value for all stakeholders in a sustainable manner is Hyderabad-based Seedworks International Private Limited. As a plant science company, Seedworks International is engaged in research, production, and marketing of hybrid seeds such as rice, cotton, millet, mustard, and vegetables. Seedworks International has been in the Indian seed business since 1998, and it spends over 10 per cent of its turnover in research.
The company has established its primary research locations in several cities such as Hyderabad, Bangalore, Aurangabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Hisar, Varanasi and Alwar along with 51 satellite locations. Seedworks realizes the need to reinvent and redevelop strategies to end hunger and malnutrition while accelerating economic growth and thereby serving a noble cause of addressing the fundamental needs of human beings in the form of food security. By engaging a large workforce that is dependent on agriculture and allied sectors, Seedworks is fulfilling the two-pronged approach of catering to both economic and social needs of this population.
Seedworks International tests its products extensively across 691 locations before it releases them for commercial sales. The company’s pathology lab is located in Bangalore, and the R&D entomology lab is in Hyderabad. Seedworks' Biotech lab in Singapore supports Seedworks' plant breeders in accelerating as well as developing the latest seed varieties as required by farmers.
Skilled & Loyal Grower base of 35000 Growers
Seedworks' seed production is spanned across India over eight states, with a skilled and loyal grower base of 35000 growers. The company’s seed growers specialize in the growing of specific crops. They are the first link in the production process to provide seeds of the highest quality with elite quality standards. Seedworks' selected group of seed growers’ base has grown over the past decade and shares in the benefits of its production supply chain.
Supporting Growers with Technical Advice
The team of crop specialists supporting the growers with technical advice concerning all aspects of production such as selection of the best soil types and sowing times, seed-to-seed solutions such as managing, organizing, and monitoring crop techniques and procedures from planting through harvest and delivery which is the right procedure for irrigation, fertilizing, integrated pest management, pollination as well as the correct methods for harvesting.
Production diversification allows the company to produce in most of the states in the best areas of India to safeguard the company’s seed supply through risk mitigation.
Ensuring high standards of quality, these hybrid crops are grown on leased farms or contracted with experienced and trusted seed growers with good agriculture practices.
Seedworks gathers crop information through its production team and stores it into an integrated computer system through a mobile application on a regular basis. They also compile crop status reports, supplemented by digital photographs of all the production fields and every production area is footed with topographic and meteorological information.
State-of-the-art Supply Chain & QC Facilities
By working closely with farmers, several leading scientists are finding ways to bring improved hybrids to the developing world that would better address the farmers’ needs and challenges to grow their crops more sustainably. Having recognized the hurdles, companies and nonprofits are working together to garner more investment, talent, attention, and innovation to provide agricultural opportunities to developing countries. Private and public partnerships like these are especially important given that the bulk of population growth is occurring in the developing world. By collaborating to drive greater innovation in these markets, agriculture will empower farmers today and well into the future.
The company’s state-of-the-art supply chain and QC facilities are located at Hyderabad, Raipur, and Haryana. Seedworks comprises 474 team members who closely work with farmers in educating and guiding them to enhance the farm productivity and farm incomes. While the company has a farmer base of 2.3 million plus and are engaged with 35000 growers’ farmers, it also advocates and champions sustainable practices and cares for the environment.
The mission of Seedworks is to offer sufficient seed quantities and ensure it is available to its customers in India and Southeast Asia in the best possible quality with a promise of on-time supply. Seed production and operations based right in the middle of the growing zone of southern, eastern and western regions of India enables the company to work extremely closely with growers during the growing season as it helps in ensuring that every single phase of seed supply chain is well monitored with the highest quality product to the end user.
World-class Seed Processing Infrastructure
Seedworks prides itself on producing and supplying the highest quality products, working alongside with world class seed processing infrastructure, international standard seed testing facilities and exporting to key Asian countries.
The company has crop specialists and agriculture engineers available to manage seed supply such as stock seed, parent seed, production, processing and distribution. The company’s processes, equipment, technologies, procedures and systems are globally standardized and integrated to guarantee the best seed supply with quality to its customers at the local and transnational levels.
All this is carried out from two of its major seed supply chain centers that are located in Hyderabad and Raipur as well as satellite production centers spread across eight states.
Conventional & Advanced Breeding Techniques
Seed Works breeding focuses on conventional as well as advanced breeding techniques. Through this it creates diversity within a plant species by systematically crossing and selecting plants with specific traits for agricultural cultivation. This includes the preservation of elite germplasms as well as the continuous further development which form the basis of Seedworks new product innovations.
Greenhouse & Laboratory Screening Methods
Greenhouse and laboratory screening methods for assessing the resistance to diseases and pests is an integral part of Seedworks’ research facilities. The screening methods consist of greenhouse inoculation of plants in several age classes and laboratory assays of detached leaflets, leaf disks, and stem cuttings. This method allows the company for testing of several components of partial resistance, such as infection efficiency & lesion growth rate, which may exist for each cultivar and for measuring specific components of resistance.
The Road Ahead
“We are also looking at expanding our portfolio by adding a new set of crops that is not part of our current product portfolio", says Dr. Venkatram Vasantavada, Managing Director & CEO. “As part of this, we are evaluating crops such as soybean, corn, and vegetables, such as radish, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, and many others".
The company’s processes, equipment, technologies, procedures and systems are globally standardized and integrated to guarantee the best seed supply with quality to its customers at the local and transnational levels
SeedWorks has also invested in a few of the projects and is partnering with startups in order to come up with the best solutions which will help improve as well as accelerate the breeding process, reduce cost of cultivation and optimize profitability. The company is achieving this by leveraging some of the digital tools in terms of genotyping through advanced technologies such as augmented reality.
“We have a presence in Africa and would want to expand our footprint in countries in the Southeast Asia and the MiddleEast, although we already have our presence in the Philippines and Singapore", concludes Dr. Venkatram Vasantavada.
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