An attempt has been made in this paper to examine the role of small and marginal farmers in crop production and seed utilisation mechanism. The study also tries to highlight the availability of the existing institutional arrangement and policy supports towards improved seed production and distribution in India. The study has been undertaken based on the secondary data of diverse years starting from 2001 to 2011. It has been observed that small and marginal farmers still largely depend on public sources for seeds apart from their retention and local seeds. It has been also found that seed replacement rates are low and only 24% of the sub-marginal and 29% of the marginal farmers replace seed every year

against 40% in case of large farmers. In spite of different policies like National Seed Policy, National Seed Project, National Seed Bill etc., the study has found that it is necessary to invest more in research and development for seed especially in the era of trade liberalization to make agriculture more remunerative and competitive.