Rs 30 lakh fine, jail in draft Bill to curb sale of low-quality seeds
The draft proposes stringent penal provisions and has offences in three categories — trivial, minor and major.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has prepared a draft of the Seeds Bill, 2025, and has invited public comments before finalising it for introduction in Parliament, according to a statement on Thursday. (Source: Express Archives) Selling poor-quality seeds could soon invite a penalty of Rs 30 lakh and imprisonment for up to three years.
The Centre Thursday unveiled the draft of a new Seeds Bill, proposing mandatory registration of seed varieties, and fines and imprisonment for major offences such as sale of “spurious” and non-registered seeds. The draft of the Seeds Bill, 2025, was released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Once enacted into a law, it will replace the current Seeds Act of 1966. The Bill proposes mandatory registration of seed varieties.
“On and from the date of commencement of this Act, no seed of any kind or variety except farmers’ variety and kind or variety produced exclusively for export purpose shall, for the purpose of sowing or planting by any person, be sold unless such kind or variety is registered in the manner referred to under sub-section (2) of section 14,” states Section 13 of the draft.
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