AP Efforts to Distribute Rasi 659 Cotton Seed Variety at Mandal Headquarters
ADILABAD: The state government is making the arrangements to meet farmers’ demand for Rasi 659 cotton seeds in Adilabad district.
The agriculture department will distribute seed packets at the mandal headquarters. A company is supplying 90,000 packets of additional Rasi 659 variety cotton seed to the district after chief minister A Revanth Reddy held talks with its management.
Deputy director of Agriculture Vijaykumar will monitor the distribution.
Farmers from Adilabad assembly constituency have been seeking the Rasi 659 variety though many other cotton seed varieties are available in the market. The supply will be done to the farmers after checking their patta passbook and land holding records.
The farmers hope that, like last year, they will get a good yield from Rasi 659 cotton seed compared to other seed varieties.
The state government took a serious note of the demand from farmers who thronged the seed shops to collect Rasi 659 variety seed packets and took immediate steps to resolve the problem.
TPCC Kisan Cell state president Anvesh Reddy on Friday visited a few seed shops in the town, interacted with the shop owners and ascertained the stocks position. He appealed to the farmers not to panic and the cotton seed would be made available for them. He also met the collector and discussed with him the situation.
Anwesh Reddy said farmers in Adilabad needed 1.50 lakh seeds packets but only 60,000 has been supplied so far to the Adilabad district. The balance 90,000 will be supplied to the district tomorrow.
He warned of stern action from the government against seed shop owners and middlemen if they artificially created a shortage and indulged in black market seeds supply. He however said farmers would get good yields if they sowed all varieties of certified cotton seed varieties instead of insisting on only one cotton seed variety.
Officials said cotton crops are expected to be cultivated in 4.16 lakh acres and 10.40 lakh cotton seed packets are required for the cultivation.
There are a total of 511 seed shops in Adilabad district. Some 10,38,435 seed packets have been supplied so far and among them, 3.40 lakh seed packets have been sold. There are 6,98,430 seed packets of different varieties in stock in the Adilabad district.
Collector Rajarshi Shah said that a total of 128 hybrid cotton seeds from 55 companies are available in the market and the Rasi cotton seeds company has made available its five varieties -- Rasi Music, Rasi 659, Rashi Shift, Rasi 797 and Prime -- in the market.
He said as many as 2,53,212 packets of Rasi seeds of five varieties were sold out last year. “We have planned to supply 2,80,000 packets this year. Among these, 1,40,000 packets have been sold so far and the remaining 1,40,000 packets will be available in the market in Adilabad district from June 2.”
There are complaints that some seed shop owners shifted the Rasi 659 variety seeds to the black market after noticing the high demand for the same this season. Some packets of this variety went to farmers of bordering villages in Maharashtra.
It is alleged that shop owners and agriculture staff gave Rasi 659 seed variety to the farmers on the strength of their Aadhar cards without verifying whether they were from Maharashtra or Telangana.
Two packets of Rasi 659 variety cotton seed were given to the farmers for each patta passbook.
