BRS opposes Draft Seeds Bill, urges Centre not to hand over control to corporate firms

HYDERABAD

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) would strongly oppose the Draft Seeds Bill 2025, proposed by the Union Government, as it is against the interests of farmers, party working president K.T. Rama Rao said.

He demanded that the Centre withdraw the Bill and move forward only after holding consultations with farmers, farmers’ unions, experts and political parties. He pointed out that the Bill lacks clarity on the measures to curb spurious seeds and that there is no guarantee of timely compensation for farmers who suffer losses because of fake or spurious seeds.

Stating that the Bill contains provisions that allow corporate companies to influence seed pricing and that the authority previously given to State Governments to regulate seed prices would be lost, the BRS leader said it fails to hold companies accountable for the production of spurious seed, placing responsibility only on sellers and the supply chain.

Besides, neither there are strong provisions for blacklisting companies nationally nor for imposing heavy penalties or strict jail sentences in cases related to fake seeds, Mr. Rama Rao said in a statement on Thursday. In many areas in the country, farmers still follow traditional practices of saving, producing and using their own seeds, he noted. However, the Draft Bill provides no protection to such farmer groups.

The Bill also contains easy provisions allowing foreign companies to sell their seeds in the country without proper trials, which puts national seed security and seed sovereignty at risk. The Bill gives no importance to State Governments or agricultural universities in the matter.

Further, the Bill paves the way for the Centre to dominate the seed-related issues, which are crucial to agriculture within the States, thereby weakening the ability of States to frame their own laws according to local conditions, Mr. Rama Rao said. He suggested that the Centre must set aside attempts to hand over control to corporate companies under the name of “ease of doing business.”

He explained that the amendments proposed by BRS emphasise seed sovereignty, domestic biosafety and the need to avoid giving dominance to the Centre over State subjects. A round-table meeting would be held soon to make additional suggestions. The party also wants strict provisions to ensure that farmers who suffer losses due to fake seeds receive compensation based on the maximum potential yield within a fixed time frame.