For bringing relief to debt-ridden farmers, seed industry has agreed to cut the price of hybrid seeds for the coming Kharif season 2017-18.However, the price cut, to be effective from June 19, will not include cotton seeds that are already regulated by the government.
The seed industry agreed to cut the prices after a meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.
"I appreciate the seed industry for making a collective decision in favour of farmers by reducing the hybrid seed MRP by 10 per cent", Minister tweeted after the meeting.
The retail prices of hybrid seeds range between Rs 300 per kg and Rs 500 per kg. Hybrid seeds are sold in crops such as corn, rice, bajra, mustard and vegetables.
More than 80 per cent of the seeds sown in the country are hybrids. The size of the hybrid market is about Rs 6,000 crore.
Faced with the price fall, farmers have sown pulses over 2.22 lakh hectares so far in the 2017-18 Kharif season, down 38 per cent from the last season.Much of the Kharif crops are sown during the monsoon period, between July and September. However, farmers are sowing early in some parts with assured irrigation
