Farmers meet Shivraj Chouhan, flag shortcomings in Seeds Bill

Talking to The Tribune, Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Dharmendra Chaudhary, who attended the meeting with the minister, said that the draft Seeds Bill had many shortcomings, which needed to be addressed to protect the interests of farmers.

“In the new Seeds Act, farmers should not be penalised to make gains for the corporate or private seeds company. There are many provisions in the draft Seeds Bill that may end up harassing the poor farmer rather than uplifting him. Most importantly, the government is yet to provide us a full copy of the provisions of the new Act. We cannot decide what is good for us in a mere 20-minute discussion," he said.

Koti Reddy Bommareddy, Director, Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations (CIFA), said farmers of the country were hardly aware about this proposed Act, and how it would impact their lives.

“It is the government’s responsibility to engage and educate the unlettered farmers of the country on the benefits of the step. It is equally important for the state to listen to their grievances,” he said.

Indian farmers and prominent unions such as the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) have strongly opposed the Central Government’s proposed draft Seeds Bill, 2025, viewing it as a threat to agrarian livelihoods, seed sovereignty, and federal balance.

Meanwhile, Chouhan on Thursday expressed concern that around 70 per cent of seeds currently fall outside the ambit of the existing Seeds Act.

He further highlighted that seed-related systems and relevant procedures differ across states, while existing penalty provisions are not sufficiently effective.

Today, he held discussions with representatives of 20 farmer outfits on the problems faced by the community in the face of substandard seed quality.

He said the government was ready to hold a series of discussion with farmer organisations to iron out the differences for a robust law to tackle the menace of fake seeds and pesticides. The minister said, “The existing Seeds Act was enacted in 1966, while the Seeds (Control) Order came into force in 1983. As circumstances and technology have evolved, new problems have emerged. At present, there is no effective mechanism to fix responsibility for poor quality seeds, thus fake or substandard seeds freely reach the market.”

“We have received around 18,000 suggestions from farmers since we released the draft Seeds Bill, 2025. The government will continue to engage with our most important stakeholder in this regard -- farmers,” he said.

The Agriculture Minister also refused to give a deadline to the discussions with the farmer representatives. “We will not rush the process, and would take the next step only after detailed consideration,” he added.