PESHAWAR: The proposed `Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Seeds Act, 2014` faces resistance from the private sector stakeholders as they view some of its provisions harmful to their economic interest and the provincial agriculture sector.

The farmers and seed dealers, according to leaders of their representative bodies, have begun lobbying with the elected representatives in separate moves to block the passage of the draft bill that was tabled before the provincial assembly in its last session on January 15.

`We have conveyed our reservations to senior provincial finance minister Sirajul Haq vis-à-vis the proposed law and apprised him its implications for the farming community, said Rizwanullah, president of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of Kissan Board, a country-wide association of farmers associated with Jamaat-i-Islami.

Mr Siraj, deputy chief of JI, added the Kissan Board leader, had assured them that the farmers` interest would be protected and anything discriminatory against growers, he maintained, would not be enacted.

Though the proposed law allows farmers to re-sow the registered varieties of seeds, farmers are not impressed by the proposed act as it envisages provisions to government them as well.

The Sub-Section (2) of the proposed law`s Section 16 says: `farmer has a right to save, use, sow and re-sow, but will not involve in business activities for his produce including seeds of a variety/hybrid or species protected under this Act.

The Kissan Board, said its provincial president, had objection to the limitations imposed on farmers` indulgence in selling seeds of the registered variety.

He termed it a bar imposed on them `in connivance with multinational companies `No other province has legislated on the subject whereas our province has undertaken this move to help multinational companies establish their monopoly,` said Mr Rizwanullah.Similar views were expressed by more than two seed dealers with businesses in Peshawar.

According to them, their representative body Seed Association of Pakistan (SPA) has agitated with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.

In two separate letters to the chief minister, the SAP has apprised him about the likely adverse affects of the enactment of the proposed law.

`The inter-provincial movement of seeds will become difficult and our cost of doing business will escalate after the enforcement of the proposed law,` said a seed dealer, requesting to keep his identity secret as he suspected backlash from the official circles concerned.

The proposed law binds all individuals/businesses/dealers to register their businesses/firms with the proposed Seeds Certification and Registration Agency that will be set up after the enactment of the proposed law.

At present, seed dealers doing business in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, like the rest of the country, are registered with the federal seeds registration authority, which allows them to sell their imported hybrid and semi-hybrid seeds in other provinces.

`Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a small market so when we import seeds, we can`t just import it for the province because it won`t be cost effective so we import seeds by keeping markets of other provinces in mind,` said a local seeds dealer.

Another dealer said after the enforcement of the new law, he would be required to do double registration: with the central agency and the provincial authorities as well.

`The provincial registration would be necessary to do business in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, whereas the federal registration would be necessary to access markets in Punjab and Sindh because their provincial governments might not allow us to operate in areas under their jurisdiction without the federal registration,` said a Peshawarbased dealer.

In such an eventuality, according to the dealers, they will be required to pay registration fees to both the federal and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments.

This will also render them liable to be governed by the federal and the provincial rules, dealing with seeds inspectors of the two entities.