Spurious seeds haunt Mahbubnagar farmers

MAHBUBNAGAR: The spectre of spurious seeds is once again haunting cotton farmers in Mahbubnagar district in the run up to the kharif season this year. In the past three weeks, authorities have seized a little more than 300 quintal of spurious BT cotton seeds, identical to good quality seeds of different companies. The estimated market value of the seized seeds is said to be about Rs 15 crore and would have been sufficient to plant cotton crop in as much as 11,222 hectares.
The latest instance of seizure of three quintals of spurious seed occurred in Maralbeedu village of Dharur mandal in the district on Tuesday during a raid by agriculture department officials, assisted by the local police.
“Acting on a tip-off, we raided a house in the village and discovered a large quantity of cotton seeds bags. After inspection, it was found that the seeds were being repacked resembling Kaveri brand along with certification labels,” Dharur sub-inspector of police Amjad Ali told TOI.
The police official also said that a few quintals of the spurious seed were already distributed to dealers and that they were in the process of tracing the buyers.
In three earlier raids in the district including two at Badepally and Gattu villages, vigilance and enforcement authorities and the police seized as much as 300 quintals of spurious cotton seeds either repacked as branded BT cotton seeds or being prepared for repacking.
With huge demand for BT cotton seed that sells anywhere between Rs 650 to Rs 950 for a 450 gm bag of good quality seed, it is not unusual for dealers to dupe farmers by selling spurious seed. On an average, a farmer requires five to six bags of seed per hectare and spurious seed manufacturing companies offer the bags at a much lower price to dealers. The dealers in turn make great profit margins when they sell the seeds at market price.
M Kishanrao, a farmer cultivating BT cotton in his four acres in Pedda Adirala village for the past six years, said that twice in the past his crop output suffered after buying spurious seeds and he reported this to the dealer but to no avail. “If the seed is genuine, then a farmer can earn an average of one lakh rupees for five acre of cotton crop,” he said. Spurious BT cotton seed menace in the district is also said to be the reason behind nearly 80 farmers committing suicide in the last one year following huge losses as a result of low yield, a typical outcome of planting such seeds.
Joint director of agriculture, K Usha, told TOI that teams have been formed to trace manufacturing units of spurious seeds and for keeping a vigil on the seed dealers. She admitted that the issue of spurious BT cotton seeds was a serious one in the district. She said that after any seizure, samples are sent to a laboratory in Hyderabad to verify their quality. “In most cases, we found that the seeds were dipped in colour to resemble the quality ones,” she said.