Mahyco, ProAgro fall in line

Agree to sell Bt cotton seeds at price fixed by govt

Yielding to the Andhra Pradesh government's tough stand on the price issue, three more seed companies, including Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Company (Mahyco), today agreed to sell Bt cotton seeds at the price fixed by the government.

Disclosing this here today, state agriculture minister N Raghuveera Reddy said the government's stand on Bt cotton prices was vindicated by Gujarat and Maharashtra where the governments have directed the seed companies to sell their transgenic seed at Rs 750 per 450 gm.

"While six local seed companies have already given letters to the state agriculture commissioner agreeing to sell a 450-gram packet of Bt cotton seeds for Rs 750, representatives of other big names such as ProAgro, its sub-licensee Rasi Seeds and Mahyco, which is a joint venture partner in Mahyco Monsanto Biotech (India) Limited, said they would also market their Bt cotton seeds at the same price in the state," the minister announced at a press conference here on Thursday. Rasi Seeds had already sold 85,000 Bt seed packets in the state at the new price, he said.

Terming the ongoing legal battle on high trait value as a fight between Indian farmers and Monsanto, the minister said the state government had only represented the case of the voiceless.

With Bt cotton seed prices coming down to more than half of the original price of Rs 1,650-Rs 1,850 till last year, cotton farmers in the state as well as across the country are expected to opt for Bt cotton seed instead of conventional hybrid varieties, prices of which are in the range of Rs 450-Rs 550 a packet.

About 5.5 lakh acres of the 25 lakh acres of cotton crop last year in the state was covered by Bt cotton seeds. This season, the area of Bt cotton sowing is expected to more than double and, according to agriculture commissioner Poonam Malakondaiah, over 20 lakh packets of Bt cotton seeds were available to meet any spurt in the demand in the state.

The minister said that Indian farmers would save Rs 1,200 crore on account of Bt cotton seed price cut this year, going by an estimated coverage of one crore acres by Bt cotton.

He also said that the state agriculture university would now find ways to protect and commercialise its technologies and fruits of its research, instead of private firms taking advantage of its work.

Meanwhile, an industry representative told Business Standard that in view of large scale migration of farmers to Bt cotton seed due to price cut, the offtake of conventional hybrid cotton seeds would drastically come down leaving the companies with huge unsold stocks this year.

The All India Crop Biotechnology Association (AICBA), in a press release, questioned the governmental intervention in price determination, stating that it would have an adverse impact on the flow of new technologies and investments in the country.