Importing Hybrid Vegetable Seed into Pakistan: Tomato, Onion and Chili

Pakistan imported 166 tomato seed shipments in the twelve months to August 2024, up 16 percent on the year before, according to Volza trade data. Hybrid vegetable seed such as tomato, onion and chili moves through the same DPP permit chain as any other seed, but it also needs enlistment with the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department (FSC&RD) before it can be sold or sown. This post covers where the seed comes from, what extra approval hybrid varieties need, and how the market has shifted.

Where does Pakistan's hybrid tomato seed come from?

India, the Netherlands and Thailand supply 63 percent of Pakistan's tomato seed shipments between them, based on Volza's tracking of the year to August 2024. India alone accounts for 45 percent of shipments, with the Netherlands and Thailand each holding roughly 9 percent. Buyers recorded in this trade include Syngenta Pakistan Limited and Akora Seeds Company.

Older sourcing patterns still shape some of the trade. A Daily Times report on the July 2016 to May 2017 period found tomato seed import value rose 10 percent to Rs 300 million, with tomato seed making up roughly 65 percent of the country's total vegetable seed import bill that year, and Holland and India named as the major exporters. The same report noted radish seed sourced largely from Japan and Korea, white turnip from Denmark, cauliflower and tomato seed from Holland and France, and cucumber and bell pepper seed from Denmark.

A caution when researching this topic: many guides online describe India's import framework, with references to IEC codes and the DGFT. None of that applies in Pakistan. The Pakistani system runs on the DPP permit, FSC&RD standards, and PSW filing described in this post, and India appears here only as a supplier country in the trade data.

How does hybrid vegetable seed compare with the rest of the vegetable seed basket?

Zooming out from tomato alone, Pakistan imported 512 shipments of vegetable seeds of all types between June 2024 and May 2025. China held 32 percent of that trade, Thailand 21 percent, and India 10 percent, per Volza. That is a different ranking from the tomato-only figures above, which shows sourcing varies a lot by crop rather than following one national pattern.

Onion seed volumes are smaller and more fragmented: Volza's buyer directory lists 9 verified onion seed buyers in Pakistan sourcing from 18 global suppliers, without a single dominant origin country in the public data.

What approval do hybrid vegetable seeds need beyond the standard import permit?

Every seed shipment needs the DPP import permit on Form-I, filed through the Pakistan Single Window, as covered in our DPP Form-1 permit guide. Hybrid and imported varieties carry an extra layer: enlistment with the FSC&RD, the statutory body created under the Seed Act 1976 that handles varietal registration, seed certification and market monitoring, headquartered in Islamabad with 27 field stations and laboratories.

PSW hosts online applications for both the Release Order and Seed Enlistment processes run by FSC&RD, covering document calling, inspection calling, and approval or rejection of each request, according to Pakistan Single Window. Under the Seed (Amendment) Act 2015, minor crops, which include vegetables, oilseeds, fodder and ornamentals, are linked to Truth in Labeling requirements, and enlistment is a precondition for either local production or import of these varieties.

The scale of this checking is not small. Pakistan imports on the order of 70,000 metric tons of seed across crops in a year, including 13,000 to 14,000 tons of maize seed and 14,000 to 15,000 tons of seed potato, per Business Recorder's coverage of FSC&RD policy, and imported lots pass through FSC&RD testing for purity and germination. Treat enlistment status as a gating item before you contract a supplier, the same way our general step-by-step seed import guide treats variety approval for any seed type.

Is Pakistan still dependent on imported hybrid vegetable seed?

Less than it used to be, but still substantially. Pakistan historically imported hybrid seed of most vegetable crops, but domestic seed companies have begun producing their own hybrids, mainly in tomato, as farmers move away from open-pollinated local seed, according to AgriHunt's overview of Pakistan's vegetable seed industry. Adoption of greenhouses, tunnel farming and drip irrigation is pushing more growers toward hybrids because of the better yield and germination these systems reward.

Even so, domestic tomato seed capacity remains limited: Faisalabad-based growers were producing quality tomato seed, but that supply covered only around 5 percent of national grower demand, per the same Daily Times reporting cited above. Onion and chili seed remain far more import-dependent than tomato, based on the shipment data in the table above.

The same FSC&RD-plus-DPP pattern covered here applies to other seed categories with their own sourcing quirks. If you also handle field crop seed, our posts on hybrid maize seed import and seed potato imports from the Netherlands work through the country-specific approval steps for those crops.

What should an importer of hybrid vegetable seed check before shipping?

1. Confirm the variety's FSC&RD enlistment status before contracting the supplier, not after the seed has shipped.
2. Apply for the DPP Form-I permit through PSW, timed to a confirmed sailing schedule.
3. Match species, quantity and origin exactly across the permit, the phytosanitary certificate, the invoice and the Release Order application.
4. Budget for FSC&RD purity and germination testing on arrival, alongside the standard DPP quarantine inspection covered in our plant quarantine inspection guide.

Hybrid vegetable seed carries a higher paperwork burden than a generic seed shipment because two regulatory bodies, not one, have to sign off before the seed reaches a farmer's field. Building the FSC&RD enlistment check into your sourcing decision, rather than discovering it after the seed lands, is what keeps tomato, onion and chili consignments moving at Karachi.

Olympic Agencies has cleared agricultural cargo, seeds, fertilizer and agricultural machinery, at Karachi Port and Port Qasim since 1982. We handle the DPP permit, FSC&RD enlistment paperwork and quarantine clearance for hybrid vegetable seed shipments under our seed import clearance service. Send us your seed species, variety and supplier country on WhatsApp and we will map out your permit and enlistment position before the seed ships.

More on seed imports

• Importing Wheat Seed into Pakistan: FSC&RD, the Rust-Resistance Imperative, and Why Most Wheat Is Not Imported as Seed
• Importing Cotton Seed into Pakistan: the Variety Approval System and the Bollgard Ban
• Importing Sunflower Seed into Pakistan: the Oilseed Variety That Reduces Import Dependence
• Hybrid Maize Seed Import in Pakistan: Rules, Suppliers and the GM Ban
• Rhodes Grass Seed Import and Cultivation in Pakistan: A Grower's Guide
• Seed Potato Imports from the Netherlands: Pakistan's Rules Explained
• Can You Import GM Soybean and Canola into Pakistan? The Rules After the 2026 Biotech Policy
• How to Import Seeds into Pakistan — a Step-by-Step Guide for 2026
• Kharif and Rabi Import Planning — When Should Agri Importers Order, Ship, and Clear?
• Plant Quarantine Inspection at Karachi — What Happens and Why Consignments Get Held
• Seed Import Permit in Pakistan — the Complete DPP and Form-I Guide (2026)
• Our service: Seed Imports clearance →