<p>Bengaluru: The Union Government's proposed Seed Bill 2025 has drawn concerns over the effort to ease the vows of the seed industry and companies while problems of unregulated seed supply chain persists to the extent that seed has become "one of the factors of farmers' suicide" in India.</p><p>In a detailed critique of the bill, in its fourth iteration since the first version was put forward in 2004, public policy expert Narasimha Reddy Donthi demanded the government to take proactive steps in protecting the interests of farmers.</p><p>He pointed to the existing issues that need to be addressed by the bill. First, he said, was the near zero regulation of the seed quality, which has pushed farmers into financial crises due to high cost and low yield, even though they were marketed as high yield variety seeds. </p><p>"Poor quality seeds are increasingly affecting farming and livelihoods. Farmers are incurring huge losses because of company-controlled seed supply chains. Consumers are also affected because the quality of food in the form of nutrition and integrity has deteriorated," he said.</p>.Centre's move to amend seed law will hit farmers' rights: Activists.<p>Reddy said farmers cultivating cotton, maize and vegetable are losing heavily because o fake, under quality and illegal, unapproved and over priced seeds. He cited the example of cotton seeds, where three varieties of disease resistant seeds (BG-I to BG-III) had not only failed but led to cascading consequences, especially due to the illegal BG-III variety.</p><p>Demanding probe into failure of other seeds, he urged a relook into Sections 43, 44, 46 and 48 of the bill which, read together, "reveal a deliberate legislative design that goes beyond mere technical drafting".</p><p><strong>Evasive strategy</strong></p><p>In response, he noted, the seed companies are aggressively piling cases in the high courts and the Supreme Court to get away with their infractions and dubious seed supplies. </p><p>"The current version of the Seed Bill fails to incorporate answers to this pile of litigation primarily faced by the agricultural departments, in almost all the states," he said, urging for a review of the seed litigation.</p><p>He said a decentralised and transparent seed traceability system, staring with clarity on its intention to protect farmers from substandard seeds, build trust between producers, regulators and farmers, strengthen state-level autonomy and encourage innovation through open, farmer-friendly platforms.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: The Union Government's proposed Seed Bill 2025 has drawn concerns over the effort to ease the vows of the seed industry and companies while problems of unregulated seed supply chain persists to the extent that seed has become "one of the factors of farmers' suicide" in India.</p><p>In a detailed critique of the bill, in its fourth iteration since the first version was put forward in 2004, public policy expert Narasimha Reddy Donthi demanded the government to take proactive steps in protecting the interests of farmers.</p><p>He pointed to the existing issues that need to be addressed by the bill. First, he said, was the near zero regulation of the seed quality, which has pushed farmers into financial crises due to high cost and low yield, even though they were marketed as high yield variety seeds. </p><p>"Poor quality seeds are increasingly affecting farming and livelihoods. Farmers are incurring huge losses because of company-controlled seed supply chains. Consumers are also affected because the quality of food in the form of nutrition and integrity has deteriorated," he said.</p>.Centre's move to amend seed law will hit farmers' rights: Activists.<p>Reddy said farmers cultivating cotton, maize and vegetable are losing heavily because o fake, under quality and illegal, unapproved and over priced seeds. He cited the example of cotton seeds, where three varieties of disease resistant seeds (BG-I to BG-III) had not only failed but led to cascading consequences, especially due to the illegal BG-III variety.</p><p>Demanding probe into failure of other seeds, he urged a relook into Sections 43, 44, 46 and 48 of the bill which, read together, "reveal a deliberate legislative design that goes beyond mere technical drafting".</p><p><strong>Evasive strategy</strong></p><p>In response, he noted, the seed companies are aggressively piling cases in the high courts and the Supreme Court to get away with their infractions and dubious seed supplies. </p><p>"The current version of the Seed Bill fails to incorporate answers to this pile of litigation primarily faced by the agricultural departments, in almost all the states," he said, urging for a review of the seed litigation.</p><p>He said a decentralised and transparent seed traceability system, staring with clarity on its intention to protect farmers from substandard seeds, build trust between producers, regulators and farmers, strengthen state-level autonomy and encourage innovation through open, farmer-friendly platforms.</p>