COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

T-gene issue: Make seed MNCs pay farmers for crop loss, demands Karnataka leader

Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, Mallikarjun Kharge, on Tuesday urged the Centre to amend the existing Seeds Act to enable the farmers to sue multi national seed companies in the event of crop loss.

He said at present there was no provision in the Seeds Act to ensure that seed manufacturing companies pay compensation to the farmers for crop loss on account of the use of seeds supplied by them.

Referring to the controversy over the field-trials of Bollgard seed cotton, conducted by the American seed company Monsanto in select farms in the state, he said the state government should have sought the expert advice of the two agricultural science universities before granting the permission.

Kharge said the testing of Bollgard variety cotton seed should be conducted at the fields of the agriculture universities and the seed must be allowed to reach the farmers only after doubts on its use were cleared.

He said the entry of "terminator gene" into the country should be banned at any cost.

UNI

Business news