'Seed Bill will render farmer helpless'

Addressing a state-level consultation on ‘Seed Bill 2010: What is in it for small farmers?’, she said earlier it was optional for farmers to register any variety of plant and its seed with the government, but now the Bill makes it mandatory to enroll their variety.

The law does not restrict farmers to save, use, exchange, share or sell the farm saved seeds and planting material except that they shall not sell the seed under a brand name, which does not conform to the minimum limit of germination, physical and genetic purity.
She said the government will have to conform to the World Trade Organisation’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, which will have far reaching implication on the farming sector.

As a succession to the agreement, the government introduced the bill. This bill is said to have been introduced to preserve the local breed of the seeds.