Interviews
Prospects exist for cotton seed exports to Africa – Dr Desai
10 Dec '10
2 min read
At a recently held event in Ahmedabad, which was attended by delegates from eight-African countries and from across the textile value-chain in Gujarat, beginning from seed manufacturers to exporters, there was a general consensus to promote growth of cotton agriculture in Africa.
Towards that end, fibre2fashion spoke exclusively to Dr DB Desai, Managing Director of Ahmedabad based, Navbharat Seeds Pvt Ltd and also President - Gujarat State Seeds Producers Association, to know more about how Indian seed technology can help the African countries increase their cotton production.
He began by saying, “During the meeting, we met delegates from eight African countries and I got the impression that, all of them were interested in buying our cotton seeds as well as raw cotton, but, the challenge lies in the export policies of India as well as the respective African countries, whether they will permit import of seeds from India. Presently, quarantine as well as Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) aws, do not encourage exchange of seeds between countries.
“There is a big opportunity for both sides and I look upon the International Trade Centre (ITC) to facilitate the development of policies favourable to export of cotton seeds from India and imports into Africa. So first of all, we have to initiate good polices and everybody concerned from both sides have to put in efforts and create a win-win situation for companies from both sides. As a businessman, we look forward to India and these African countries, to initiate polices, which will help entrepreneurs from both sides to join hands, in developing suitable hybrid varieties of cotton seeds.
“The first step lies in a joint research programme and then testing and cultivating the hybrid cotton seed varieties produced in India in the African countries and then understand the varieties which are successful. Navbharat Seeds has a successful cotton seed research and development institute in place and we would like to extend the services of the institute for the joint research programme. We are also in favour of visiting these African countries to understand the agro-climatic conditions and their requirements of cotton varieties”, he concluded by saying.
Towards that end, fibre2fashion spoke exclusively to Dr DB Desai, Managing Director of Ahmedabad based, Navbharat Seeds Pvt Ltd and also President - Gujarat State Seeds Producers Association, to know more about how Indian seed technology can help the African countries increase their cotton production.
He began by saying, “During the meeting, we met delegates from eight African countries and I got the impression that, all of them were interested in buying our cotton seeds as well as raw cotton, but, the challenge lies in the export policies of India as well as the respective African countries, whether they will permit import of seeds from India. Presently, quarantine as well as Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) aws, do not encourage exchange of seeds between countries.
“There is a big opportunity for both sides and I look upon the International Trade Centre (ITC) to facilitate the development of policies favourable to export of cotton seeds from India and imports into Africa. So first of all, we have to initiate good polices and everybody concerned from both sides have to put in efforts and create a win-win situation for companies from both sides. As a businessman, we look forward to India and these African countries, to initiate polices, which will help entrepreneurs from both sides to join hands, in developing suitable hybrid varieties of cotton seeds.
“The first step lies in a joint research programme and then testing and cultivating the hybrid cotton seed varieties produced in India in the African countries and then understand the varieties which are successful. Navbharat Seeds has a successful cotton seed research and development institute in place and we would like to extend the services of the institute for the joint research programme. We are also in favour of visiting these African countries to understand the agro-climatic conditions and their requirements of cotton varieties”, he concluded by saying.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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