Opportunities and Challenges in Rice Seeds Trade Between India and Bangladesh

Rice, a major staple crop for India and Bangladesh is important not only for ensuring food security, but also the livelihood security of large number of small and marginal farmers engaged in rice cultivation. Decisive component of the rice cultivation is the quality of seeds utilised having directly impacting the production and productivity of crop. One of the biggest challenges in providing quality rice seeds in both the countries is the existing market inefficiencies in meeting the demands. Trade being recognised as a tool for enhancing the domestic market capacities to meet the demands of domestic consumers as well as enlarging the platform for producers, therefore, this paper will focus on understanding the potential benefits which rice seeds trade between India and Bangladesh can bring in order to address challenges of availability and accessibility of quality rice seeds by increasing the supply in both the countries.