The bickerings in the cottonseed industry continues with 11 top players, mostly multinational firms, writing to the Union Government that they are not party to the NSAI campaign in support of the Cottonseed Price Control Order .

Avoiding a direct opposition to the price control order, they argued that the firms invested heavily on research and development of seeds and that they should be rewarded accordingly. The NSAI had openly backed the Order, saying that it would help solve the ambiguity in ascertaining the seed price for ever in the country.

The 11 firms asked the government to take into consideration their views, while taking decisions that would impact the industry. In a letter to the Joint Secretary (Seeds), the firms have alleged that the NSAI (National Seed Association of India) platform was being misused to serve the interests of a few companies.

The letter was signed by Shivendra Bajaj of ABLE-AG on behalf of Monsanto, Mahyco, BASF, Bayer, Dow, DuPontPioneer, Syngenta and Rasi Seeds, Metahelix, Namdhari and Bioseed.

“We request the government not go by the representations being made by the current leadership of NSAI, while taking decisions that restrict the creation of intellectual property in the Indian seed industry. Their stand would eventually harm the interests of Indian farmers,” it said.

“We have written to the NSAI President expressing our strong disagreement with the association’s stand,” he said.

“We want to put on record that the NSAI statements do not represent the views of a large majority of seed companies and members of NSAI like us. We strongly believe that innovative research should be incentivised to create value for farmers,” Shivendra Bajaj said.

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