Nagpur: After Supreme Court last week rejected Mahyco Monsanto’s plea to stay a high court order which said plant varieties and seeds like Bt cotton cannot be patented, seed-makers using the American biotech giant’s gene have decided to not to pay the per bag trait fee so far charged by the company.
Monsanto had introduced Bt cotton seeds in 2002.
As the next hearing will be held on May 28, the National Seeds Association of India (NSAI) has planned to submit that they would rather deposit the trait fee of Rs 39 per bag in the court till the matter is resolved. This amounts to Rs 200 crore for the over 5 crore Bt cotton bags sold throughout the country each season.
The court has directed that now the issue of charging the trait fee would be dealt by the Plant Variety Protection and Farmers Right (PVPFR) Authority, a body under the ministry of agriculture. Under the earlier system, domestic seed companies which used Monsanto’s gene to produce Bt cotton seeds paid a trait fee to the company. The component was included in the price of the seed bag and was ultimately passed on to the farmer. A bag of Bt cotton seeds is priced at Rs 740 which includes the trait fee.
Kalyan Goswami, director of NSAI, said, “There will be no certainty till the issue is decided by the PVPFR Authority. Till then, the seed-makers do not want to pay the trait fee to Monsanto. They may rather keep it with the court or PVPFR authority.”
Goswami said in case the court does not agree with the seed-makers’ stance, the association will approach the PVPFR Authority seeking permission to deposit the amount instead.
The amount may be deposited in the gene fund account maintained by the authority which is used for development of plant species. “In case a higher trait fee is fixed by the authority, the seed industry will pay the surplus amount. If the fees less than Rs 39 a bag is fixed then the industry is ready to forgo the amount. It can be used for the gene fund or farmers’ welfare through any other means,” he said.
Goswami said seed producers will be including the trait fee in the seed price, which means the farmers will be charged the amount. But it will not be passed on to Monsanto. The farmers will be charged the cost because there are also possibilities that the trait fee may be continued or even increased, he said.
