Govt releases draft Seeds Bill 2025, draws flak over farmers' compensation

Critics say it's silent on farmers' compensation, but welcome emphasis on traceability and price regulation

The Centre on Thursday released the draft Seeds Bill of 2025 that proposes to replace the decades-old Seeds Act of 1966 and the Seeds (Control) Order of 1983.

 

The Bill proposes to set up a centralised accreditation system for granting of licences, doing away with the current provision of individual states doing the same. It focusses on traceability, entrusts the responsibility of price control to the central government, and also deregulates the power of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and State Agriculture Universities (SAUs) to approve variety trials.

 

It also proposed stiff penalties ranging from three years imprisonment to fine of ₹30 lakh for major offences, and calls for mandatory registration of all new varieties while granting deemed registration to existing ones. The licensing system of dealers has been removed.

   

But, according to some critics, the draft that favours price regulation only in “emergent situation”, is silent when it comes to compensation for farmers in the event of underperformance of seeds.

 

According to them, the draft Bill also does not have adequate legal safeguards of laws such as the Environment Protection Act (EPA) to prevent transgenic seeds from being imported and sold in India.

 

The draft, which is open for public comments till December 11, is the first major amendment to the burgeoning seeds sector in India in the last several years.

 

An official statement said that the draft Seeds Bill seeks to regulate the quality of seeds and planting materials available in the market, ensure farmers’ access to high-quality seeds at affordable rates, curb the sale of spurious and poor-quality seeds, and protect farmers from losses. It also proposes to decriminalise minor offences, thereby promoting “ease of doing business” and reducing compliance burden.

 

Meanwhile, some critics said the draft Seeds Bill does not have adequate provisions to protect the rights of seed-producing farmers (contract farmers who produce seed for companies) since all seed producers are mandatorily registered as per this statutory framework.

 

“At first glance, it appears that one big sticking point has been addressed, which is that the Seeds Act itself will regulate and take up price control. However, it has been limited to ‘emergent situations’ and not for all varieties of seeds registered under the proposed Act. However, the Bill continues to be anti-farmer in two ways — one, it is not having any provision for compensating farmers who incur losses due to spurious, substandard or misbranded seeds. This is quite concerning. Another is that it does not have any provisions to protect the interests of seed-producing farmers, those who work under contractual systems for seed industry players. They are often underpaid and exploited by seed companies. We will press for provisions that protect interests of both seed-producing farmers and seed-consuming farmers,” said Kavitha Kuruganti, convenor of Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA).

 

She said one big drawback of the draft is that while it stressed regulation of quality through pre-emptive penalties, but absence of provision of compensation to farmers in the event of underperformance or loss due to substandard seeds is simply not acceptable.

 

The overriding powers of the central government also needs to be understood clearly as it would mean that several state legislations become subservient to the central Act, Kavitha said.  Meanwhile, Ajai Rana, chairman, Federation of Seed Industry of India, and CEO and MD, Savannah Seeds, while welcoming the draft, said in a statement that initial reading indicates, particularly, a recognition system for research-based companies and enhancing ease of doing business. These measures will further streamline the sector while ensuring strong safeguards against serious violations. FSII is examining the draft in detail and will officially submit its comments by the deadline given.