HYDERABAD, 2 June 2020: Telangana state government has extended the tenure of K. Keshavulu as Director of Telangana State Seed and Organic Certification Authority (TSSOCA) for a period of five years.

After this extension, Keshavulu will not be able to complete the term as the president of International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) from 2022-25.

In addition to this post, Keshavulu is also holding the charge as the Managing Director of Telangana State Seed Development Corporation and is the vice-president of ISTA.

He was elected to the ISTA post in June 2019 during the 32nd congress and became the first Asian to be elected as its vice-president of the international body. For the first time a meet was held in Asia after 95 years.

As per the ISTA constitution he would succeed as its president automatically when the body meets in New Zealand for its 33rd congress in 2022.

Announcing the tenure of Keshavulu, state agriculture secretary B. Janardhan Reddy said, “It’s a great opportunity for strengthening the Indian seed industry by improving the share in international seed market, improving the efficiency of seed certification agencies, seed corporations, accreditation of seed testing labs in the country and to improve global networking of seed companies through Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), International Seed Federation (ISF), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in seed production, quality control and marketing globally.

Before this, Keshavulu was the principal scientist in the seed science wing of Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University before he was made the first Director of TSSOCA five years ago.