Nurseries warned not to violate Seeds Act

Hyderabad: Stringent action would be taken for violation of the Seed and Nursery Act 2017 resulting in a penalty up to Rs 50, 000 or imprisonment for one year, or, in severe cases both actions will be taken," said C Parthasarathi, APC & Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Co-operation, here on Wednesday.

He was speaking at the awareness programme for nursery owners at the Horticulture Training Institute. Due to the supply of seedlings grown from spurious seeds, horticultural crops, especially spices (chilies & vegetable crops), farmers faced huge losses. As many as 120 nursery owners from 11 districts of Telangana attended the awareness programme.

Owners from Khammam, Suryapet, Ranga Reddy and Vikarabad were seen in the majority numbers. Several issues were explained with respect to the maintenance of records by nurserymen, provisions of Seed Act and Seed Control Order and provisions of Prevention of Detention (PD) Act and its relevance to the supplier of spurious seeds and seedlings.

Technical aspects related to nursery maintenance with respect to irrigation systems in nurseries, shad net houses and characteristics of spurious seeds and seedlings were discussed.

"The implementation of the nursery act in the state is very important and having a suitable infrastructure in the nursery is useful for the production of healthy and vigorous seedlings. I request all the nursery owners to follow the action and avoid any violations," said Venkatram Reddy, Director of Agriculture & Sericulture.

There was a presentation by the Horticulture Department about Centre of Excellence, Jeedimetla, which produces seedlings for chilies and vegetables like tomato, cucumber, capsicum, brinjal and also exotic flowers. The nursery is spread across 10.8 acres fully protected cultivation with poly houses automated plug type nursery production unit and shade net units.