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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | The roots of the crisis in the seed industry -Ram Kaundinya

The roots of the crisis in the seed industry -Ram Kaundinya

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published Published on Nov 21, 2017   modified Modified on Nov 21, 2017
-Livemint.com

The regulatory system for the seed and biotech industry should be transparent, science-based, predictable and fair


For many decades, the Indian policy framework facilitated the interaction of science and innovation with entrepreneurship, which led to competition and the subsequent development of an industry structure that delivered sustainable economic benefits.

The government was a major contributor to investments in seed research in India for close to three decades after independence. Policy reforms like the New Policy On Seed Development (1988) and New Industrial Policy (1991), and advances made by science and technology, provided an impetus to the participation of the private sector in the Indian seed industry and private investments helped India benefit from hybrid seed technology and biotechnology.

However, according to the Rabobank report (2006), India’s top 10 seed firms accounted for just 25% of the total volume of seeds sold by the private sector in 2005. This level of fragmentation was aided by the low entry barriers. Historically, intellectual property (IP) had no sanctity in the industry. Some of the staff of seed companies had free access to the most vital intellectual property of the company, i.e. the germ plasm and the parent lines. People could easily start a new seed company with the freely available parent lines. Many seed-producing farmers also set up seed production companies.

Consequently, research investment by private companies remained at a meagre 3-4% of revenue against the international norm of 10-12%. Investment by the public sector in seed research continued. A steady formal and informal flow of material from public institutions to private entrepreneurs continued.

There was no IP law for the seed industry till The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (PPVFRA), 2001, came about. In the preamble to the Act, the government said this law was intended to promote research in, and creation of, intellectual property in the seed sector.

In a 2014 paper by David Spielman et al, it is argued that science, technology and innovation play a central role in driving change in the industry. Adoption of new technology leads to the creative destruction of old players and systems, pushing forward technological frontiers.

They quote Joseph Schumpeter (1934), who posited that innovation by large firms through temporary monopolies or other forms of market power leads to technological reforms and appropriate gains, albeit with short-term consequences for social welfare. In the long run, technological change and economic growth result from the continuous entry and exit of entrepreneurs who innovate on production processes and secure advantages that force the exit of older, obsolete firms from the market.

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Livemint.com, 20 November, 2017, http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/UrTFnBD86QjcT1Rqu4Q1RO/The-roots-of-the-crisis-in-the-seed-industry.html


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