Monsoon brings spurious seeds

The onset of monsoon not only brings hope of good rains and but also spurious seeds to the interior areas of north Telangana districts.

Farmers start agricultural operation works in April- end or first week May for Kharif; cultivation of cotton area is high in the old Adilabad district.

The total area of cotton cultivation was 5. 70 lakh hectares in the old Adilabad district, nearly 55 percent in the total area for Kharif in 2017.

Spurious seeds, especially cotton, are brought into northTelangana districts from bordering states Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and Chattisgarh and also from Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. 

Private traders selling fake cotton seeds are target farmers  in the interior village as they lack much knowledge much about the quality  and are unable to discern  between genuine and fake seeds. 

According to police, traders selling spurious cotton seeds revealed that they target illiterate farmers especially Adivasis in the interior areas on the borders in Kumarambheem Asifabad district.

There was a notion among the farmers that purchasing the cotton seeds brought to their door steps by traders was good instead going to nearby towns and purchasing seeds and fertilizers for higher price.

Earlier, spurious seeds were seized in interior areas in Indravelli, Narnoor, Kerameri, Adilabad, Bela, Thamsi mandals sharing borders with Maharashtra.  Some of the private traders even give cotton seed packets to the farmers on credit and collects money after harvesting season.   

The state government has failed to control the sale of fake seeds to reduce the loss to the distressed famers in the state and also to put an end to the transportation of the spurious seeds into north Telangana districts and private traders and their agents in the villages.

Ramagundam police commissioner Vikramjit Duggal said ‘they found that the private traders of spurious seeds transporting spurious cotton seeds into various places in Telangana from Andhra Pradesh for which there was no permission to sell from government and also with fake way bills and under the guise of transporting other goods in vehicles’.

Recently, task force police of Thandur seized 51.50 quintal of  spurious seeds worth Rs 1.6 crore transported to Kumarambheem district from Emmiganur village of Kurnool of Andhra Pradesh. Among the seized spurious seeds, there were Kavya brand seeds packets and lose cotton seeds.

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