Bihar government has suspended the licence of Monsanto India Ltd and its dealers in the state for supplying allegedly substandard or contaminated 'kargil hybrid 900M' maize seeds to the farmers.

Monsanto an American company, was in the eye of a storm in Bihar following failure of the much publicised ‘kargil 900 M' maize seeds that turned hundreds of farmers to penury.

State Agriculture Minister Shivshankar Yadav said that a show-cause notice has been served on Monsanto.

Yadav told rediff.com that after getting the company's reply and reports of the House committee and that of the Rajendra Agriculture University, it will be decided if the licence of the company will be cancelled.

The angry and frustrated farmers demanded RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav to take action against the company.

The company officials said this year the poor grain setting in maize, cutting across all hybrids, is attributed to unfavourable weather conditions, which have also affected other crops like mustard in the region and in the Indo-Gangetic plains.