Visakhapatnam: Sale of spurious seeds has become a serious problem for farmers in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The racket in spurious seeds operates actively in both states due to lack of monitoring by the state governments.
The state government takes action against unscrupulous seed companies only when farmers protest the failure of their crops and land in debt.
“The fake seeds are not confined to chilli or cotton, but also prevalent among other crops where hybrid seeds are used. However, it becomes a concern when huge money is at stake in a crop like chilli,” said agricultural scientist G.V. Ramanjaneyulu.
He said that seeing the huge demand for chilli, some seed companies do not even produce the seeds; they collect leftover seeds from the crop and sell it to farmers.
“F1 or first generation hybrid is costlier and gives a good yield. The second generation (F2) hybrid, which is much cheaper, is not very fruitful. Farmers are being lured by dealers into going for the second generation,” he said. The agricultural department has failed to monitor the seed companies, he adds.
According to sources, there is a strong nexus be-tween seed companies, dealers and nurseries. The spurious seeds are said to come mainly from Bengaluru.
Guntur is turning out to be the hub of spurious seed companies. Krupa Das, joint director of agriculture, Guntur, said that cases have been filed against two chilli seed companies for selling fake seeds and a special task force has been assembled to inspect the seeds, fertiliser and pesticide outlets.
This doesn’t cut any ice with Bojja Dasaratha Rami Reddy, secretary general of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association. He holds that the state government is not regulating seed companies and the market.
“All seed companies are not involved in the racket. Some unscrupulous companies are selling the fake seeds in packaging of reputed and trusted seed companies. The authorities, instead of conducting regular monitoring, are trying to defend them, and are penalising even the good companies,” he said.
Ministers and officials in the state agriculture department should be taken to task for all the crop failures that result from spurious seeds, he demanded.
