Realizing the importance of seed in agriculture, IARI took the lead and established a separate Seed Testing section in the erstwhile Division of Botany in the year 1961. The section of Seed Testing was upgraded as a full-fledged Division of Seed Technology in 1968 to provide leadership in maintenance breeding, seed production, quality evaluation, storage, physiology, pathology, variety identification, genetic purity evaluation and DUS testing for plant variety protection, development of seed quality assessment procedures and human resource development. The Division was renamed as Division of Seed Science and Technology in 1984. This division has the following mission.

Annual Report