Seed Multiplication Scheme of Paddy, Millets, Pulses, Oilseeds and Cotton (Tamil Nadu)

What is the Seed Multiplication Scheme?

Seed Multiplication Scheme of Paddy, Millets, Pulses, Oilseeds and Cotton is a contract seed production programme of the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu, operated through the Tamil Nadu State Seed Development Agency (TANSEDA). Under it, a farmer grows a crop not for grain but for seed, under departmental supervision and to certification standards, and the department buys the produce at a premium over the ordinary market price.

The premium is the whole point of the scheme. Producing seed is more demanding than producing grain: the farmer has to maintain isolation distances, rogue out off-types, follow the seed certification officer's instructions through the crop, and accept that the lot may fail on germination or purity. The department compensates for that extra discipline with an incentive expressed as a percentage over the annual average local market rate (LMR) plus weightage.

According to the Agriculture Department's citizen charter, the incentive structure is:

An older departmental scheme note carries a flat per-kilogram premium structure instead; Rs 2 per kg for certified paddy and millet seed, Rs 2 per kg for foundation pulses and Re 1 for certified pulses, Rs 3 and Rs 2 per kg for foundation and certified groundnut, and percentage premiums for gingelly, sunflower, castor and soybean. Farmers should treat the percentage-over-LMR structure in the citizen charter as the current one and confirm the rate for their crop and class with the Assistant Director of Agriculture before sowing.

Who is eligible to become a seed grower?

You can register a seed farm if:

• You are a farmer in Tamil Nadu who will produce and supply seed to the Department of Agriculture on contract. That contractual undertaking is the defining condition of the scheme.
• You hold or lease land whose survey number can be registered as a seed farm with the Department of Seed Certification, on payment of the prescribed fee.
• You are prepared to buy the source seed from the department through the Agricultural Extension Centre at the sale price fixed by the department.
• You will attend the training the department gives seed growers at the beginning of each year, which the scheme note describes as a condition of enrolment.
• You will follow the guidelines of the field-level functionaries and the Seed Certification Officers throughout the crop.

The department maintains a separate allocation for SC and ST seed growers, and states that preference will be given to farm women groups and Farmers Interest Groups. Say so on the application and attach the relevant certificate or membership proof.

You cannot register, or are not eligible, if:

• You want to sell the produce on the open market at your discretion. The scheme is a contract with the department; the produce is committed.
• Your land cannot meet isolation requirements, for example because an adjacent field is under the same crop of a different variety within the prescribed distance.
• You will not buy source seed from the department. Seed grown from privately purchased seed cannot be certified under this arrangement, because the certification chain depends on a tagged source.
• You are unwilling to bear the transport cost to the seed processing unit, which the charter places squarely on the farmer.
• You cannot repay the advance if the lot fails certification. This is a real risk and the obligation is unconditional.
• You did not register the farm before sowing. Registration is a pre-sowing step; a standing crop cannot be brought into the scheme retrospectively.

How the money actually flows

The payment sequence is the part farmers most often misunderstand, so it is worth setting out step by step as the citizen charter describes it:

1. The farmer buys source seed from the Agricultural Extension Centre at the department's fixed sale price. This is a cost to the farmer, paid upfront.
2. The crop is inspected in the field through the season by the Seed Certification Officer. On satisfactory fulfilment of field standards, the produce is declared fit at field level and is called the Field Run Produce.
3. The farmer transports the produce at his or her own cost to the nearest departmental Seed Processing Unit, after inspection and with permission.
4. On arrival, the farmer is paid an advance: 90 per cent of the Minimum Support Price declared by the Tamil Nadu Government for paddy and millet seed, and 80 per cent of the procurement price for pulses and oilseeds.
5. The seed is processed in the presence of the Seed Certification Officer, who draws a sample and sends it to the Seed Testing Laboratory.
6. If the lot passes, the produce becomes seed material and the farmer is paid the difference between the full procurement price for that crop and class and the advance already received.
7. If the lot fails, the farmer must repay the entire advance in one instalment before taking back the stock.

Two practical consequences follow. First, the advance is not a subsidy; it is a part-payment that can be recalled. Second, the real return depends on the annual average local market rate and the weightage fixed for the year, so ask the Assistant Director of Agriculture for the current year's figures before committing acreage.

What documents are required?

How to apply and register a seed farm

1. Meet the Assistant Agricultural Officer in your village or the Agricultural Extension Centre in your block before the season begins, and ask which crops and seed classes are being taken up for multiplication that year.
2. Enrol as a seed grower and attend the training the department gives at the beginning of each year, which covers isolation, roguing, field standards and record-keeping.
3. Register your seed farm with the Department of Seed Certification through the Assistant Director of Agriculture of your block, on payment of the prescribed registration fee. Keep the receipt.
4. Buy the source seed from the Agricultural Extension Centre at the department's fixed sale price, and keep the receipt and the certification tag.
5. Sow and manage the crop strictly as instructed by the field functionaries and the Seed Certification Officer, and be present for each field inspection.
6. Obtain the field-level fitness declaration at harvest, and permission to move the produce.
7. Transport the Field Run Produce at your own cost to the nearest departmental Seed Processing Unit and collect the 90 per cent or 80 per cent advance.
8. Collect the balance payment after the Seed Testing Laboratory declares the lot standard, or repay the advance if it fails.

Who to contact at each level

The Agriculture Department's charter names the officers with their TANSEDA designations, which is useful when a farmer needs to escalate:

• Village; Assistant Agricultural Officer.
• Block, Assistant Seed Officer, Deputy Agricultural Officer, Agricultural Officer, and Assistant Director of Agriculture (Assistant General Manager, TANSEDA).
• District — Joint Director of Agriculture (General Manager, TANSEDA) and Deputy Director of Agriculture (Deputy General Manager, TANSEDA).
• State; Director of Agriculture (Vice Chairman and Managing Director, TANSEDA) and Additional Director of Agriculture (Seeds) (Chief General Manager, TANSEDA).

How to check the status of your payment

1. Ask the Seed Processing Unit for the acknowledgement recording the quantity received and the advance paid.
2. Ask the Seed Certification Officer when the sample was drawn and sent, and when the Seed Testing Laboratory result is expected.
3. Once the lot is declared standard, follow up with the Assistant Director of Agriculture for the balance payment, quoting the seed farm registration number.
4. Watch the bank account you nominated, since both the advance and the settlement arrive as transfers.
5. Escalate unpaid settlements to the Joint Director of Agriculture at district level.

Why seed lots fail, and how growers avoid it

• Isolation distance not maintained. Neighbouring plots of the same crop within the prescribed distance contaminate the lot. Fix this at the planning stage by choosing the field, not after sowing.
• Off-types not rogued. Walk the field at flowering and remove off-types before the certification inspection, not after.
• Moisture above standard at delivery. Dry the produce properly before moving it; a high-moisture lot fails on germination later.
• Physical purity below standard. Clean the produce and avoid mixing at the threshing floor, which is where most contamination happens.
• Source seed not departmental. A lot grown from untagged seed cannot be certified.
• Farm not registered before sowing. Registration is a pre-sowing step and cannot be done retrospectively.
• Advance not repaid after a failed lot. This blocks future registration. Settle it promptly and re-enrol in the next season.

Help and grievance redressal

• Agricultural Extension Centre in your block: enrolment, source seed and forms.
• Assistant Director of Agriculture, block level, seed farm registration and payments.
• Joint Director of Agriculture, district level, escalation.
• TNAGRISNET: tnagrisnet.tn.gov.in for departmental scheme information.
• e-Sevai helpline for land records and certificates: 1800 425 6000.
• Chief Minister's Special Cell: cmhelpline.tn.gov.in.

The only lawful payments a seed grower makes are the seed farm registration fee to the Department of Seed Certification and the sale price of the source seed at the Agricultural Extension Centre. Both carry receipts. No other payment is due to any officer at any stage.