Telangana to nip spurious seed sale in the bud

Hyderabad: Telangana caters to 60 per cent of India’s seed demand. In recent times, it has been noticed that unscrupulous fly-by-night seed companies have entered the state and have been adopting unhealthy practices such as sale of spurious seeds, illegal cultivation of HT cotton etc. and this has been worrying the state authorities since the state is the seed hub of India and may also cause irreparable damage to farmers.  

Seeds being the most critical agricultural input, any defect can turn it into a dangerous gamble. Thus in a major move, the state has constituted 50 task force teams headed by the district collector and the superintendent of police to trace out illegal companies and to book cases against them. These teams will also include officials from the agricultural and cooperation department. 

Telangana is the major seed producing state in the country. Presently, more than 400 seed companies, including multinationals have established themselves in the state. The climate and soil types are best suited and are highly congenial for quality seed production for most of the crops and also for processing, grading and storage. 

Spurious seeds is high because the companies make a large margin by selling fake seeds. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, C. Partha Sarathi,agricultural production commissioner, explained, “This year, another issue in cotton growing states has surfaced with rising illegal cultivation of HT cotton or unapproved GM crops in the market.” “The reason for this is illegal marketeers or fly-by-night operators. The HT cotton seed might be produced elsewhere in India and are brought into the cotton growing states as nobody claims this trait. The TS government is trying to curb  all such illegal seeds, especially HT cotton, in several districts with the help of our task force,” he said. 

“These issues are increasing year by year and becoming a big challenge for the government and also for genuine seed companies. As the kharif season is approaching,  the seed suppliers of different crops have started introducing the seeds in the market, villages and farmers of Telangana are also bringing in seeds from different places and introducing them in the market. 

The task force teams will be deployed in each district according to the extent of seed production activities,” Partha Sarathi said.

The State Government took a  decision to bring those found guilty of manufacturing and selling spurious seeds under the purview of the Preventive Detention Act to ensure that they were dealt with sternly. Superintendent of Police, Gadwal district, Rema Rajeshwari said that these task force teams will look out for illegal storage, selling , transport of seeds, storage godowns ,  shops , processing units , mills etc. “They will conduct raids if any information comes up about illegal activities and will book cases under the relevant IPC sections, Seed Control Order, Seeds Act and Essential Commodities Act,” she said.