Govt changes but not farmers’ fate in TS

Gadwal: The farmers of Nadigadda region are facing a lots of problems due to widespread prevalence of fake seeds, counterfeit pesticides, and exploitation by fertilisers and pesticide dealers.

Farmer are being thrust with fake or low quality seeds or duplicate patented seeds. Their entire labour would go in vain and crops would be lost, if the farmers purchase such seeds on false assurances of the dealers. The sales are going on unabated despite raids by task force teams.

The government is being blamed for not the lopsided preparations to supply farmers quality seed and eliminate spurious seeds in the market. Around 70 lakh acres are covered across the state during the monsoon season. This time, farmers are gearing up to cultivate white gold on a large scale. If a farmer purchases 2 packets of seeds for one acre there is a demand of 1.4 crore packets. As such, fraudsters are devising various ways to cheat the gullible farmers. The price of cotton seeds is Rs 700-750 per packet in the open market. Thus, seeds sales alone run into Rs 1,000 crore. Spurious seed sales are reportedly going on in erstwhile Mahabub Nagar, Nizamabad, Ranga Reddy, Adilabad and Medak district.

Lack of surveillance by the officials is becoming a boon for the fraudsters. The situation is such that farmers are afraid to complain if they suffer any losses. There is no information with officials on the failed seeds which did not germinate.

While 20 companies are cultivating cotton seeds in Gadwal district, only 7 companies have submitted details to the agriculture department. About 40,000 farmers cultivate cotton seed in around 40,000 acres annually. More than one and a half million seed packets are produced. The farmers are at a loss to check genuineness of seeds, verify genetic purity, seedling percentage, expiry date, and company details etc. A receipt must be taken while purchasing seeds, but traders are fleecing the farmers in this respect.