Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh today
said that “As there was no uniformity in pricing of Bt cotton seeds across the
country, the central government has recently intervened and issued a Cotton
Seed Price (Control) Order, 2015, to fix a uniform price of Bt cotton seed
across the states in the country for the benefit of farmers,"
The Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister said that both the public
and private sectors have a role in the supply of quality seeds, including Bt
cotton, to farmers. The licensing of Bt cotton seeds by Mahyco Monsanto to 50
companies is an example of the private sector's role in the production and
supply of such seeds.
Shri Singh said that "In order to safeguard the interests of the
farming community, this department issued the Cotton Seed Price (Control)
Order, 2015, under section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, to
regulate Bt cotton seed prices. "Some state governments had also passed
legislations to ensure supply of Bt cotton seeds to farmers," Shri Singh
added.
Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister
also said that "based on the representations, this department also made a
reference to the Competition Commission of India for investigation of dominance
of MMBL and abuse of monopoly in Bt cotton technology so as to ensure
competition in the market.
Shri Singh said that as per the
order, a nine-member committee was set up to recommend the maximum sale price
of Bt cotton seeds after taking into consideration the seed value, licence fees
including one-time and recurring royalty (trait value), trade margins and other
taxes and government today declared the maximum sale price
of Bt. cotton seed packets9450grams of Bt. Cotton plus 120 grams refugia) for
the financial year 2016-17 for the whole of India.
Sl.
No.
|
Components
|
BG-I
version of Bt. Cotton hybrid
|
BG-II
version of Bt. Cotton hybrid
|
1
|
Seed
Value (in rupees)
|
635
|
751
|
2
|
Trait
value including taxes (in rupees)
|
0
|
49
|
|
Maximum
sale price (in rupees)
|
635
|
800
|
SS/bt.
cotton