Commodity News
HeadLine : Govt removes royalties on Bt cottonseeds
Date : Mar 26 2020
In a notification issued on Tuesday, Agriculture Ministry said there will not be any trait value from now on Bollgard-I and Bollgard-II hybrid cotton seeds sold in the country. While a 450-gm packet of Bollgard-I Bt cotton hybrid seeds would be priced at Rs.635, the same amount of Bollgard-II hybrid seeds would be available for Rs.730. In 2019, the government had halved royalties to ?20, which has now been removed completely. The Bt cotton technology was developed and introduced in India by the US agri firm Monsanto, which Bayer acquired in 2018 in a $63-billion deal. More than 40 Indian seed firms currently pay royalty to Bayer for using the transgenic technology in hybrid cottonseeds that they make and sell to farmers. Bt cottonseeds are cultivated in more than 90 per cent of Indian cotton farms. 

Source : Business Line
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