Spurious seed menace: Cops, agriculture officials told to act tough says Minister S Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said that seed companies cannot disown from the primary responsibility of distribution and sale of spurious seeds.

Speaking at a review meeting of the State and district-level senior police and agriculture officials on curbing the sale of spurious seeds, here on Tuesday, the Minister asked the agriculture and the police officials to work in coordination to curb the menace.

He said the Telangana government has identified agriculture as an important sector. "About 2.4 crore population of 60 lakh families of farmers are dependent on agriculture in the State. When agriculture is strengthened, it will boost the developement of the allied sectors to contribute to the State's GDP," he said.

The government has been with farmers providing them free power, water, aid through Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima, procurement of their produce. However, spurious seeds cause heavy loss to the farmers. Hence, the State government wants to curb the menace of spurious seeds, he added.

The Minister asked the officials to ensure that the cottonseed packets were sold at the rates fixed by the Centre and slap PD Act against those selling spurious seeds.

He suggested converting seeds not meeting the government prescribed quality standards into cattle feed. He warned of stringent action against those who try to recycle the rejected seeds due to low-quality standards.

Similarly, nurseries growing chilli seedlings will attract legal action if they sell low-quality seed to the farmers. He said that the State and district level task forces should take stringent action against the erring traders for selling spurious seeds.

He called on the agriculture officials to create awareness among farmers on the spurious seeds.

State DGP Mahender Reddy, Principal Secretary, Agriculture Raghunandan Rao, Rythu Bandhu Samithi chairman and MLC Palla Rajeswar Reddy, Additional DGP Jitender Reddy, Horticulture department Director Venkata Ramireddy, State Seed Development Corporation MD Kesavulu and Seed Task Force official Nagi Reddy.