No shortage of cotton seeds in State: Tummala

Hyderabad: Agriculture minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said on Wednesday that a series of meetings were held with seed companies in February and March to ensure that the supply of necessary seeds in the State is sufficient.

He said in 2023–24, 44.92 lakh acres of cotton crop were cultivated. It is estimated that this time it would be cultivated on 55 lakh acres for this monsoon season; it was planned to make 1.24 crore cotton seed packets available to farmers in March. He said 10,39,040 packets belonging to different companies were purchased by farmers. Details of cotton packets made available by the company and the types, as well as details purchased by farmers from all districts, have been brought, and instructions were given to the Agriculture Department to monitor them continuously.

For the last two to three days, there have been news reports that cotton packets were not available in one or two districts; farmers are being given only two cotton packets due to a shortage. As farmers of some areas in districts asked for the same type of cotton seeds belonging to the same company, seeds of that type were placed as per the demand of farmers or with the intent of giving them to all farmers, and two packets of cotton seeds of that type were given to each one in a row.

The minister clarified that there was no shortage of cotton seed packets, either in the markets or in the districts. The police had to use lathis to make farmers stand in queue lines; propagating that lathi charge will result in damaging the morale of farmers, he said.

Quoting agricultural university scientists, he said if good management practices are followed, all types of cotton hybrids would give the same yield. Hence, all farmers can buy varieties of seeds instead of competing for seeds from the same company.

The ministers informed that the government has already taken steps to avoid any problems related to fertilisers. ‘Sincerity of this government can be observed in terms of making available seeds and fertilisers to farmers on time; however, it is ridiculous to state that the government does not have a plan and is not supplying enough fertilisers and seeds to farmers, asserted Rao.