Mangala Rai, the agriculture adviser to chief minister Nitish Kumar, said healthy competition between private and public sectors would lead to a progress in agriculture.

At a seminar on seed production, processing and marketing organised at Indira Gandhi Planetarium on Friday, Rai said intellectual property rights would act as a catalyst to attract more investment in the agriculture sector.

Bihar Agricultural Management Extension Training Institute organised the event.

Rai said of 40,000 government-protected plants in the country, around 66 per cent are flower species. States should ensure a growth in the production of foodgrains as well as flowers.

Highlighting the Centre’s seed policy, he added: “Rai said: “Liberalisation has been witnessed in the new seed policy (1988) for which there has been only a 25 per cent hike in seed production. The National Seeds Corporation should now think of how production of hybrid seeds, which is low at present, can be increased.”

Rai said arrangements should be made for quality sampling to ensure India reaches the level of America and China in production of hybrid seeds.

Secretary, agriculture, Vivek Kumar Singh said: “If we concentrate on being independent, the state could also export seeds.”