Spurious seeds cost farmers dearly

Eluru: Farmers of Ammapalem village in Pedavegi mandal incurred huge losses due to spurious and substandard paddy seeds supplied by
the Andhra Pradesh Seeds Corporation (AP Seeds). About 60 farmers purchased 1001 variety paddy seeds from the organisation to plant
during the kharif season. They planted the seeds over 300 acres of land spending Rs 850 for each packet. All these farmers purchased
around 300 packets. The farmers after planting the seeds found that another MTU-1010 variety seed was mixed in the 1001 variety seeds.
This came to their notice after the saplings were grown on the seedbed.

One of the victims, farmer Chandu Nageswara Rao who has been cultivating four acres in Ammapalem village said that the 1001 variety
took at least three months for harvesting compared to the MTU-1010 variety. He said, “Due to the mixing of both seeds in the bags, we
are not in a position to harvest the crop as the 1001 variety takes another one month for harvesting. We already spent Rs 15,000 per acre
and with the AP Seeds’ negligence, we have to incur losses.”

Other farmers Chandu Nageswara Rao, Inagatla Nageswara Rao, Balaramaiah and Chandu Satish said that the organisation had earlier
sold spurious seeds earlier and added that many farmers faced similar problems. Knowing about the spurious seeds, Andhra Pradesh
Koulu Rythu Sangham (APKRS) district secretary K Srinivas visited Ammapalem village on Monday.