Reinventing seed business
By Ashfak Bokhari
The
eight-year-old bill that sought to change the very shape of
the country’s seed sector, and later of the agriculture
sector itself, has at last been passed by the National
Assembly.
The passage of the Seed (Amendment) Act, 2014 by a
poorly-attended NA session on March 16 went almost unnoticed
by the media.
Many came to know about the important development only
through statements of the farmers organisations strongly
criticising.
The new law which they
believe would bring to an end the age-old practice of
re-using the seeds from the previous produce.
By the farmers and compel
them to purchase seed every season, from the registered
companies, thus raising the cost of production. It will now
go to the Senate for passage.
Another similar draft bill,
Plant Breeders’ Rights Bill, is expected to follow.
The bill which amends
the 1976 Seed Act had to traverse a long but an unpleasant
journey. It was approved by the federal cabinet in 2007 but
remained frozen for two years.
It was re-approved by the
cabinet in 2009 and was introduced in the National Assembly
on January 11, 2010. The bill was referred to the standing
committee concerned.
There it remained unattended
for three years and could not be passed owing to dissolution
of the national legislature on March 17, 2013 because of
fresh general elections.
The bill was again sent to the federal cabinet’s
consideration and was approved on May 15, 2014 for the third
time and introduced in the NA for the second time on August
8.
It was passed by the NA
standing committee on food security on October 16.
However, it took another four
months to be taken up by the National Assembly on March 16,
2015 but before the bill could suffer any further delay it
was put to vote and was passed the same day.
Under the new law, those seeking registration of a
genetically modified plant variety will have to submit an
affidavit declaring that the variety shall have no adverse
impact on the environment, and on human, animal and plant
life
During
this period, major reforms suggested in the amended law had
been subject of debate among the stakeholders both within
the NA panel meetings.
At public forums and also in
the court hearings when a public interest petition was filed
by the Kisan Board Pakistan in Lahore High Court in May last
year.
The new seed law, in few words, reduces the public sector
role and increases.
The private sector’s role in
management of seed business in the country.
What has irked the most the
farmers bodies and civil society groups has been the
unauthorised sale of genetically modified (GM) seeds in the
country which, however, is the now being formally allowed
under the new seed law.
The Textile Industries Division official stated in the court
that nearly 85pc of the cotton sowed in Pakistan is Bt
variety, mostly of unapproved varieties.
Here it is interesting to note the foreign office’s
opposition to GM seeds as conveyed by Environmental
Protection Agency DG Mohammad Khurshid during the
proceedings of the public interest petition.
While appearing on behalf of
the federation on May 14, 2014, he said: “the Foreign Office
has also conveyed its concern to the Climate Change Division
that the subject of GM seeds is a matter of grave concern
for national security and trade.
It can be used as a
biological weapon of mass destruction to destroy Pakistan’s
major crops such as potato, wheat, rice, corn, cotton and
vegetables through modified viruses, bacteria and other
parasites.”
The LHC had asked the federal
government to stop giving licences for sale of GM varieties
of cotton or corn seeds until a legal framework is put in
place.
Under the new law, those seeking registration of a
genetically modified plant variety will have to submit an
affidavit declaring that it does not contain any gene or
gene sequence involving terminator technology and a
certificate from the National Bio-safety Committee to the
effect that the variety shall have no adverse impact on the
environment, and on human, animal and plant life.
The decision about
registration will be made after examining field data of two
crop seasons trials in respect of bio-safety and
performance.
In a ‘statement of objects and reasons’ attached at the end
of the text of the amended law, federal minister Sikandar
Hayat Bosan says that 1976 law had failed to fulfill the
requirements of ‘modern seed industry’ and the capacity of
the public sector has, over the years, been greatly reduced.
Currently, the share of
public sector in seed production and supply is only 15pc.
Today, it is the private sector which is playing a stronger
role in the development of seed industry.
Therefore, the new law will
allow private sector to play a major role, produce basic
seed for its multiplication and certification and establish
accredited seed testing laboratories.
It was in 1980s that the private sector entered the seed
business. The first seed company was registered in 1981.
The pace picked up in the
1990s. In 1994, the seed business was formally given the
status of an industry and was granted stimulus associated
with that designation.
By 2000, 291 private seed
companies had been registered. Four multinationals also
established their Pakistan affiliates during the 1980s-90s.
These included Monsanto
(1984), Pioneer (1989), Syngenta (1991), and ICI Pakistan
(1998). By 2012, there were 963 companies.
March 2015
Source: Dawn
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