Monsanto cuts Bt cotton technology fee by 30 per cent

New Delhi, Mar 6 (UNI) Mahyco Monsanto Biotech Ltd has cut the technology fee for its Bt cotton by 30 per cent from Rs 1,200 to Rs 900, a royalty fee which many think is still high for the Indian farmers.

Mahyco Monsanto presently sells 450 mg Bt cotton seeds for Rs 1,700, which is inclusive of the Rs 1,200 technology fee.

The price of Bt cotton when it reaches the farmers will now come down from Rs 1,700 to Rs 1,400 with the 30 per cent cut in technology fee.

The reduction in the price followed talks between the government and Mahyco Monsanto in the wake of farmers' suicides in several states after crop failures due to use of spurious seeds, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told a news conference today.

The farmers had bought the spurious seeds which are cheap because they could not afford the high price of the Bt cotton seeds.

Mahyco Monsanto had been dragged to court by the Andhra Pradesh government in January for not adequately compensating the farmers in the state who failed to receive the desired yields for some Bt cotton varieties.

The Andhra government has also filed a petition in the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission against the high technology fee of Bt cotton seeds.

UNI FZ ARB KN1739