Kill Bill

In a country where 70 percent people depend upon agriculture for survival while 75 percent of the seeds used in farming are produced by farmers, the government is pushing through a Bill that has the potential not only to make its farmers uncompetitive in the seed market but even deprive them of their traditional right to save, sell and share seeds. The contentious Bill in question is the Seeds Bill 2004. The proposal, meant to regulate the seed trade and provide impetus to seed export, is already mired in deep controversy. There are voices being raised all over the rural hinterland and among activists that it is basically anti-farmer and hits him where it hurts the most.
There are various provisions in the Bill that have raised doubts about the government’s intentions and irked farmers’ rights activists who are fiercely protesting against it. The bone of contention is the registration of all varieties of seeds without which no one shall be allowed to sell, save or share seeds. This is being seen as a major infringement of farmers’ rights.
This means that farmers involved in the traditional practice of seed sale and barter across their farm fence can be charged under the new Bill. Under this situation, the farmers may attract penal action (which could go up to a fine of Rs 25,000) including the liability to be searched by the Seed Inspector who has been given powers to break open anyone’s door, enter his house and search if he feels the seed act is being violated.
“It is a Bill drafted under pressure from seed manufacturing mncs like Monsanto. It has the potential to spell doom for Indian agriculture. Most of the seed varieties used in Indian agriculture today are farmer-produced. If farmers are not allowed to save and sell their own seeds, there can’t be any agriculture here. The only aim of this Bill is to force the farmer to buy seeds from the market,” says Vandana Shiva of Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE).
Although the proposal gives exemption to farmers to save, sell or share their seeds without registration, there is also a clause that the farmer will not sell such seed that does not conform to the minimum limit of germination, and physical and genetic purity prescribed under the Bill once it has been enacted. The question as to who will ascertain these qualities when a farmer goes to sell his seeds has been left unanswered. Indeed, if he has to go to an institution or a committee, then it is as good as registering the seed variety.
“The idea is to make the whole process so bureaucratic that the farmer is rendered uncompetitive in the market. Which farmer will have the energy, time and money to go to a committee or an institution to ascertain the quality of his seed, get a certificate of approval and then sell, save or share it. This will only lead to widespread corruption and farmers will have to bear the brunt,” says Shiva. Former Assistant Director General (IPR) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), S. Bala Ravi, adds, “The so-called exemption given to farmers in the Bill merely allows saving and sowing in his own farm. This Bill takes away the other seeds rights of farmers, such as sharing, exchanging and selling the farm saved seed. The result of this provision is that the entire seed demand in the country is exclusively reserved to the seed industry.”
Suman Sahay of Gene Campaign says, “Compulsory registration of all seed varieties is not entirely bad. It will only protect the farmer from spurious seeds. But the way it is proposed to be done in the Seeds Bill, is shocking. Why is the government pushing through the Seeds Bill while the Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers’ Rights (PPVFR) Act is awaiting implementation for four years since its enactment. The industry has been angry with the Farmers’ Rights Act which recognises the farmers’ rights not just as a cultivator but also as conserver and breeder of various successful seed varieties. The new proposal covers that ground. It negates the Farmers’ Rights Act. The industry provides only 20-25 percent of seeds used in Indian agriculture. Rest of it is farmer-produced. It is this chunk of the market that the industry is eyeing. And the government is helping it at the cost of its own people.”
The other controversial issue is seed certification. This is mandatory in the new Bill. Under the existing Act (Seed Act, 1968) only central or state seed laboratories can provide seed certificates. But under the new Bill, accredited individuals or institutions will also be able to provide such certificates. “This will allow self-certification. Any seed company may establish an institution tomorrow and start certifying its own seeds. But who will monitor them is the big question,” says Shiva.
Another concern is compensation to farmers when the agronomic performance claimed by the seed provider on a variety is not realised under cultivation. The proposal asks the farmer to claim it through consumer courts. Sahay says, “Knowing the tedious processes of consumer courts and the very inaccessibility of them to the rural masses, one reaches the conclusion that it is a provision that will deter the farmer from claiming the compensation.”
A discerning look at the Indian seed industry and the direction in which the Seeds Bill will push it gives a fair idea of the major players of tomorrow. Today, there are over 400 odd seed trading companies in India. Majority of them do not have their own R&D capability. Few of those who have it do not have the technical and financial strength to survive competition. Nearly a dozen seed companies can be called majors in their scale of operation today. They may immediately survive, but not all of them can do so in the long run. Mergers have already started (Monsanto India holds 26 percent stake in Mahyco, India’s biggest seed company). It will only be hastened in the coming days.
Surely, this could become yet another ‘Coca-Cola story’. Remember the story of erstwhile Thumps Up, Gold Spot, Limca, Sprint, etc., and all those independent beverage manufactures when Coke and Pepsi entered the country market? And the mergers of all these small softdrink manufacturers into the two mega players in a very brief time? This could be the story yet again rewritten of the Indian seed industry.