KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to withdraw the federal government’s authority regarding certification and registration of seeds in order to check marketing and sale of substandard seeds in the province, it emerged on Wednesday.

Informed sources said that a decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of Sindh cabinet’s sub-committee on agriculture, which noted that the Federal Seed Certification and Registra­tion Department was not reportedly taking any action against the sale of sub-standard seeds in the far-flung areas of the province.

The meeting was presided by Adviser to the CM on Agriculture Manzoor Hussain Wassan and attended, among others, by Environment Minister Ismail Rahu and Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro.

The meeting decided to review the Seed Act, 1976 and present it in the provincial cabinet.

The sources said that the decision to put up the matter in the provincial cabinet was taken after federal government did not respond to Sindh government’s request to delegate certain powers to it under the Seed Act, 1976.

Revisiting of Seed Act, 1976 to be proposed to provincial cabinet

He said that the agriculture department had been receiving complaints from growers about low germination of seeds. “Substandard seed and fertilizers have been causing huge losses to farmers and the national economy”, he added.

Speaking to Dawn, Mr Wassan said that such powers would have enabled the provincial agriculture department to check the quality and standard of seeds being sold in the market and save the farming community from the losses they had been incurring after buying substandard seeds.

Mr Wasssan said that the cabinet’s sub-committee on agriculture would get cabinet’s approval for enacting ‘Sindh Seed Act’, adding that [under the proposed law] Punjab-based unregistered companies would not be allowed to operate in Sindh without provincial government’s permission.

“We would also recommend to the Sindh cabinet strict punishment to those found involved in the sale of substandard seeds.

Ismail Rahu told the meeting that Punjab and Balochistan had not taken back the authority of certification and registration of seeds from federal government. “They [Punjab and Balochistan] are waiting for Sindh to take such a step first,” he believed.Jam Khan Shoro told the sub-committee meeting that trial of violators [of the proposed Act] should also be made part of the proposed law.

According to the sources, Sindh’s agriculture department is unable to check the sale of substandard seeds and fertilizer and take action against culprits because it does not have such powers under Section 28 (a and b) of the Seed Act,1976 although it maintains close contacts with growers and supply network at the tappa and UC levels.

The said the Federal Ministry of Food Security and Research was in Dec 2020 requested to delegate powers to the province to check the quality and standard of the seeds being marketed in Sindh but the federal government did not even bother to respond to the request.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2021