Govt to weed out fly-by-night seed sellers

Farmers can heave a sigh of relief. The Government now plans to root out fly-by-night operators in the seed business. All manufacturers would need to get their produce checked and verified through a proposed National Seed Board before they can be registered to start selling seeds in the country.

The new policy would also provide better redressal facilities for farmers details of to be worked out by the Board. The Agriculture Ministry’s proposal, which will come up for Cabinet approval tomorrow, provides teeth to the Board by granting it a statutory status and a secretary-rank chairman.

Seed companies will have to go through a year-long compulsory trials in labs approved by Indian Council of Agricultural Research before they are registered.

This, however, will not be applicable to farmers growing their own seeds and exchanging them with their brethren as long as it remains non-commercial.