A seedy affair

Govt must raise the ease of doing business in seed industry

All do not seem well with the country's Rs 15,000-crore hi-tech seed sector. Two recent events clearly bring this out. First, peeved at the regulatory uncertainties, major seed and seed technology companies have grouped themselves into a Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) to serve as a ginger group to protect their commercial interests. Second, the indigenously developed genetically modified (GM) mustard hybrid does not seem to have moved any closer to getting the government's permission for cultivation despite having gone through extensive evaluation and obtaining bio-safety approval from a high-level government-appointed expert panel. That's because the government, failing to shed its indecisiveness on gene-tweaked crops, has opted to put the panel's report and safety data on its website for public comments - an obvious delaying tactic considering that this issue has already been publicly debated threadbare. The farmers will, as a result, continue to be deprived of a new seed that can potentially enhance the mustard yield by 25 per cent, raise their income, and reduce the country's dependence on edible oil imports. Therefore, neither the confrontation between the seed industry and the government nor the dilly-dallying on the part of the government to allow more GM crops, other than cotton, is good for the farm sector, which supports more than half the country's population.

Nevertheless, moot issues have now been crystallised. The seed technology industry feels that the government's bid to cap royalty on their proprietary technologies and its intention to make them share their technologies with other stakeholders through regulation such as compulsory licensing are bad in law and contrary to global practices. Though the government has put its proposals on hold, the bid to abridge the seed industry's business freedom through official interventions is tantamount to meddling with the intellectual property developed at a huge cost and should, therefore, be desisted. Similarly, in the case of other GM crops, notably the GM mustard hybrid DMH-11 evolved by the Delhi University, the government's dilly-dallying on granting the final approval serves as a disincentive for private and public investment in developing new hi-tech seeds.

Monsanto has chosen to register its protest against official policies by withdrawing its application for the next generation technology - Bollgard II Roundup Ready Flex. But, it has, at the same time, indicated that it is only suspending the introduction of this product. It would continue its other seeds business. Luckily, at this stage, both the seemingly hardened stand by the bio-tech seed companies and the pinpricking by the government appear mere posturing. The seed companies, apparently, do not want to shun the large and lucrative Indian seed market. Nor does, indeed, the government truly want them to do so.

If the government is serious about making bio-tech seeds available to farmers at lower cost, it should encourage - not inhibit - evolution of more bio-tech varieties to promote competition in this sector. At present, the policies are impeding research and development of new GM seeds and their hassle-free marketing. Well-judged modifications in these policies are, therefore, urgently called for to ensure smooth functioning and growth of the seed sector. The government should, to be fair, improve the ease of doing business in the seed sector as well. Otherwise, the ultimate losers would be the farmers whose interests the government avowedly seeks to protect.