After Pakistan’s Senate Agriculture Committee approved the amendments to its 1976 Seed Act, the full Senate will convene in the coming months to vote.
Aside from the Seed Act, the Government of Pakistan is also reviewing the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, which would strengthen intellectual property protection, and the Biosafety Act, which would emphasize the role of government in regulating biotech products.
The key provisions include:
The amendments would bring the private sector under the purview of the Seed Act.
Aspiring individuals or companies wanting to join the seed industry must have a seed processing plant or register as a seed dealer.
Additionally, the sale of seeds without registration or sale of misbranded seeds would be subject to imprisonment or fine.
Biotech seeds may not contain the gene that disallows replanting of the crop, but is not deployed in commercial crops. And biotech seeds must be approved by the National Biosafety Committee to be safe for the environment, humans, animals and plants. Source: USDA-FAS.
