Selling poor-quality seeds will soon invite a penalty of Rs. 30 Lakhs and jail for up to three years. The centre unveiled the draft of a new seed law, proposing mandatory registration of seed varieties and fines and imprisonment for major offences such as sale of “spurious” and non-registered seeds. The draft of the Seeds Bill, 2025, was released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Once approved, it will replace the current Seeds Act of 1966. The Bill proposes mandatory registration of seed varieties that will further maintain seed standards.
The government draft proposes stringent action against the use of low quality seeds and has offences in three categories- trivial, minor and major. Among the major offences are supply of “any spurious seeds, supply of seeds of non-registered kind or varieties and doing the business without registration as dealer or distributor or producer or seed processing or plant nursery”. Those who sell seeds beyond the legal framework will have to pay the maximum penalty of Rs 30 lakh and imprisonment for a term, which may extend up to three years. The Bill seeks to regulate the quality of seeds for sale and import, to facilitate production, and supply of quality seeds. The government had brought Seeds Bills in 2004 and 2019, but they couldn’t become law.
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