The GST Council on Thursday approved several reliefs for farmers by rationalising the taxes on a host of products extending from farming inputs and services to seed storage, coffee curing, and tractor tire variants. These measures are expected to bring down the cost of cultivation and improve farming profitability. The council gave its nod to applying a 5% GST, instead of 18%, for all seaweed-based biostimulants registered under the Fertiliser Control Order (FCO), 1985. “Earlier in some places, biostimulants were classified under the 5% GST category and in others under 18%; the council’s decision has brought them under a single rate for all stimulants,” an industry expert told FE. Since 2021, bio-stimulants have been included in the FCO and currently there are 146 notified and approved products under FCO