- The Union Government is planning to mandate uniform certification of seed by amending the Seeds Act,1966.
- This decision was taken as more than half of all seeds sold by private companies in India are not certified by any proper testing agency.
- The Centre also hopes to roll out a software to barcode seeds in order to ensure transparency and traceability.The planting materials such as cuttings, grafting and tissue culture also will be brought under the ambit of the law.
- The new act will also aim to regulate the quality of all seeds sold in the country as well as exported and imported seeds.It will also increase penalties for non-compliance.
- The barcoding will bring uniformity to the process of quality regulation.It will also weed out of poor quality seeds and could increase productivity by 20 to 25%.
- The amendment will also hold companies accountable for the quality of the seeds they sell.The software system will be able to track seeds through the testing,certification and manufacturing process.
- However,private seed companies fear whether the new mechanism will assure them that data on their seeds is not shared with their competitors.
