Awareness camps for farmers to educate about fake seeds in Mahbubnagar

Mahbubnagar: The district police have embarked on a mission to rescue the poor and gullible farmers from the clutches of spurious and fake seed sellers. As part of this, the district police have decided to launch a comprehensive awareness programme for the farmers and explain them about the fake seeds being sold by unscrupulous elements in the markets.

"As the farming season is soon to begin, the Mahbubnagar police have decided to launch an awareness campaign for farmers to sensitise them about the fake seed sellers in the markets.

As part of our programme, we have decided to hold meetings and adopt various methods to spread the awareness on spurious seeds and thereby, we want the farmers to be alert and not to fall prey to the fake seed sellers," said Rema Rajeshwari, Superintendent of Police, Mahbubnagar.

The SP said particularly the farmers in the villages were unaware of the fake seed sellers and fall prey to them. "We have seen many instances where the poor farmers buy spurious seeds as they are attracted by low prices. However, the illiterate poor famer is unaware of the expiry of the seeds and do not have the knowledge to gauge the quality of the seeds.

By conducting meetings with the members of farmer associations and farming communities in the rural villages, the police have decided to conduct regular checks of seed shops and traders across the district so as to keep a tab on the spurious seed sellers in the district.

Addressing the media persons on Wednesday, the Mahbubnagar SP said that so far they had conducted checks on more than 100 shops across 14 major towns in the district and registered cases against a fake seed seller in Koilkonda mandal. She said the police was strictly monitoring each and every trader and closely watching them. She advised the farmers and general public to inform the police of any suspicious activity.

The police advised the farmers not to buy lose seeds from the traders. Farmers must check the sealed packets with brand names on them and also check the expiry date on the packets. They are also advised to take compulsory receipts from the sellers and preserve the same until the crop comes to the yielding stage. The police have strictly warned the traders not to sell HT seeds (seeds that resist herbicides) as they are harmful for the environment.

The farmers are advised to buy the seeds only from the certified dealers and asked to keep the details of dealers' source certificate and delivery certificate, so that, in case the farmer faces any problems with regard to seeds, the dealers can be confronted for compensation.