Soyabean germination failure: Maharashtra Agriculture dept terminates licences of 11 seed companies

The case had assumed importance after the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court had taken up the matter suo motu and directed the state Agriculture department to speed up investigations. The state government had started filing criminal FIRs against seed companies, which was stopped after the Supreme Court stepped in. By then around 83 FIRs had been filed while 1.60 lakh farmers had lodged complaints of seed failure.

Although criminal FIRs were stopped, officers of the commissionerate have held hearings under the Seed Act and passed orders against the companies. Till date around 77 hearings have taken place and 11 companies have had their licences suspended. Next week 40 more hearings are scheduled in the matter.

The action by the state government has rattled the seed industry, which controls over 70 per cent of the oilseed market. Many senior industry leaders cited wrong agricultural practices as the real reason for seed failure. “Targeting companies will send out a wrong message,” said a senior functionary of the industry.

The crux of the matter that had led to seed failure was the decision of the government to lower the germination rate from 70 per cent to 60 per cent to qualify as seeds. This was done as heavy rains had lashed the state during the harvest season. This year, seed manufacturers have pointed out how heavy rains in the production area threatens to repeat the last year’s problems.