Corteva to launch treated paddy seeds in India

With an aim to meet the twin goals of protecting paddy crop from pest attacks and increasing productivity, Corteva Agriscience, a global pure-play agriculture company, is coming up with treated seeds using the highest quality treatments. Corteva, which is expected to make the seeds available in the market by next Kharif, will be the first company to introduce such seeds in India.

During a media tour of the Toopran Research Centre (TRC) in Medak district on Tuesday, scientists of Corteva said the treated seeds would protect paddy crops from pest attacks until 60-70 days after they were sown. Apart from protecting them from pests, the seeds would ensure at least five bags of additional yield besides bringing down the crop duration by five to 10 days. The seeds were already introduced in Thailand and Indonesia where they proved to be a success. The process is underway for a launch in India, they said.

South Asia-Corteva Agriscience president Rahoul Sawani said the chemical applied to the seeds would protect the seeds from pest attacks until eight to nine weeks. When farmers sow conventional seeds, they would need to spray pesticides four to eight times to protect the paddy crop from insects such as yellow stem borer and brown plant hopper insects. With the treated seeds, farmers could save labour and expenses on pesticides, which would eventually increase the revenue from paddy cultivation, he said.

A farmer from Pegadapalle village of Bodhan Mandal in Nizamabad, Hanumantha Rao, said they had cultivated both the traditional seeds and Corteva seeds and had seen a huge difference. Rao said a good number of the saplings would die when they go for transplantation in traditional paddy nurseries. However, the loss of saplings was negligible with Corteva seeds.

Prasanta Patra, Regional Commercialisation and Business Lead, Seed Applied Technologies, Corteva Agriscience, said seed applied technology (SAT) was at a nascent stage in India, especially for rice. He said Corteva’s seed-applied solutions would help provide farmers with tools they need for more sustainable food production. It would also help lower the environmental exposure to chemicals in agriculture. After introducing the paddy seeds, Corteva would also launch similarly treated maize seeds.