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Speaking
at the second annual general meeting of the association,
Amiyo Kanti Das, president of SAB, pointed out that even
though in 2005, Asim Dasgupta, finance minister of West
Bengal, had announced all seeds would be exempt from VAT,
in reality the order was not implemented.
Thus,
seeds for spices like coriander, imported into West
Bengal, were subject to VAT.
However,
these seeds were not only used as spices, but also
consumed as vegetables, and so should be exempt from VAT,
contended Das.
No
marketing fee should be collected by the regulated
marketing committee for any seed, he said.
At
present, only jute seeds were exempt from marketing cess.
Sushanta
Ghosh, state minister, said except for paddy seeds, the
state had not made much progress in developing seeds for
crops like potato, jute and vegetables.
According
to Swapan Dutta, member of the state agriculture
commission, and professor at University of Calcutta, the
state needed more investment in research and development
in agriculture, especially seed development, and this
would be possible through involvement of big companies in
the field.
About
90 per cent of the state's seed requirement for vegetables
production was being produced by private sector firms, he
added.
However,
according to Hafiz Alam Sairani, general secretary of
Agragami Kisan Sabha West Bengal unit, a farmer's group
with 12 lakh members, involvement of multinational
companies in agriculture would hit small farmers.
"If
agriculture was controlled by corporate houses, then
marginal farmers will face problems," said Sairani.
Mohanta
Chatterjee, minister for food processing and horticulture
of West Bengal, said the state agriculture commission
would soon submit a report on improvement of agriculture
in West Bengal.
Source
: Business Standard - Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, dated
05/09/2008
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