FOLLOWING growing pressure over its intention to help farmers, the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) this past week decided to amend the bill one last time in an attempt to reach compromise. But still, the bill’s content was tied up with complicated plant varieties and plant variety protection Acts, and so was viewed by those who opposed it as putting farmers at a disadvantage.

THE COUNTRY’S leading alternative farm advocacy group yesterday suggested that future parliamentarians retain the best parts of the scrapped Rice Bill while improving regulations that would otherwise give an advantage to big agro firms.