Farmer friendly seed laws should be made immediately
Agriculture is a continuous process, the basic elements of agriculture are land, water and seeds,
that is, agriculture is impossible without seeds. The Seed Act came into force in the year 1966, after
several amendments were made from time to time. In the year 2004, a new seed draft was
brought which was less farmer friendly and more company-friendly. This law could not be made due
to opposition from Bharatiya Kisan Sangh as well as other organizations. An attempt was made to
bring the law again in the year 2019 but this too was not completely farmer friendly. Due to lack of
proper seed law, fake, unauthenticated and unauthorized seeds are running rampant in the market in
the name of seeds. Farmers are facing huge losses due to these seeds. Due to a lack of control on prices,
farmers’ costs are also increasing. Today the seed market is more than Rs 15 thousand crores, the
market-based dependence of farmers has increased. Whereas seeds were the basis of farmer’s self-
reliance.
In the year 2019, when the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of India tried to control
the prices of some seeds, some companies, especially foreign companies, started shouting. Although
to a large extent the ownership rights of all seeds belong to the farmer, yet in the case of seeds,
farmers are exploited the most. The basic foundation of food security is the farmer and the “seed is
the right of the farmers”. Therefore, the Central Government is requested to immediately bring a law
so that this process of exploitation can be stopped. Seeds should be available at affordable prices; it
should be the responsibility of the company to recall failed seeds like GB1, GB2 from the market.
There should be a provision for strictest punishment on the company providing wrong seeds and fake
seeds, there should be provision for prescribed seed germination, knowing the original source of the
seeds and there should be adequate availability of seeds suitable for agro-climatic situation.
Variability in agriculture is certain under climate change and like other natural resources, the
main center of agricultural biodiversity is the farmer’s field in the open environment. Monopolization
of the seed market appears to be complete injustice by depriving the farmers of a brand name to sell
their seeds. It is necessary to make such arrangements based on agricultural production, resources and
agricultural productivity, natural resources, exploitation and conservation that farmers get quality
agricultural seeds at reasonable prices. Therefore, the Akhil Bhartiya Prabandh Samiti meeting of the
Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Bhubaneswar (Orissa) passes the resolution and urges the Central
Government to immediately enact a ‘Farmer Friendly Seed Law’ in view of the seed related
problems of the farmers. For which, after discussion with all the stakeholders and farmer
organizations of the country, the final decision should be taken with consensus so that the Seed Act
becomes in the interest of the farmers and the nation.
Indian Council of Agricultural Research should refrane desist from dubious agreements under the guise of farmers’ interest.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the Central Government is the apex public agricultural education, research and extension education institution in the agricultural sector. Under this, a strong network of 731 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) is working across the country for maximum agricultural scientists and guidance. Despite being so capable, from the year 2023, it has been continuously entering into agreements with private companies like Amazon, Dhanuka, Bayer, Coromandel etc. for subjects like agricultural research, agricultural advice to farmers, guidance of technical information and trade of fresh agricultural products.
Is it in the interest of the country to give priority to foreign MNCs and make agreements by ignoring the groups of farmers, farmers organizations, agricultural producers organizations etc. across the country? What rules and criteria adopted for their selection? Was there any public debate about carbon credit markets? Whereas according to our Constitution, agriculture is a state subject. Was public policy made after a deliberative democratic process? Why is ICAR facilitating these selective firms ? And what specific mandate does it have? Have the documents of the agreement been made public? What will ICAR learn from the buyer company? Which experienced scientists of a public reputed institution cannot develop themselves? What is the IPR regime on whatever is developed, including varieties and other
technologies? Whether ICAR believes that Bayer Company will provide advice to farmers that will not further its own business objectives and that such advice cannot be given by the public sector extension departments as well as ICAR’s KVKs in the country is not clear. What problem are these agreements trying to solve? It is beyond comprehension that now the institute has announced in July 2024 that it will produce 100 varieties in 100 days, there is a provision of Rs 1 lakh crore of finance by the Central Government for research and development of innovative technologies. Apart from this, farmers across the country still give priority to purchasing seeds, plants and other products of public agricultural institutes and universities, which seems appreciable and encouraging. But, the farmers of the country have the right to know what compelled an institution of such capacity to compromise with only a few selected foreign companies.
It is clear to us that the institutions which are responsible for creating economic and environmental crisis in our agriculture sector are being partnered by ICAR for the so called solution while these institutions are only interested in their profits and not in sustainability. On the other hand, public sector institutions like ICAR are ultimately accountable to the people of India as they are run on taxpayers’ money. A prestigious institution like ICAR has been taking decisions keeping in mind the criteria set by the Ministry of Agriculture, but why is the Agriculture Ministry of the Central Government unaware of this?
Bhartiya Kisan Sangh expects ICAR to discuss with all the agricultural stakeholders and farmer organizations of the country before taking all such policy decisions for the farmers and take a final decision with consensus and set the policy in the interest of the farmers and the nation.
Therefore, the Akhil Bhartiya Prabandh Samiti meeting of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Bhubaneswar, unanimously passes this resolution that –
1. Cancel the above suspicious agreements taken by ICAR.
2. Share all details, including copies of signed agreements and reports of the pilot project, in a public domain.
3. Stop making such agreements in future without extensive debate on it.
4. A detailed investigation should be conducted into the above matter and strict action should be taken against the anti-
national officials involved in it.
5. The Central Government should make adequate financial provisions for public research institutions in the
agricultural sector.