Friday, March 30, 2018

Nonexistent BT -3 cotton seeds hits farmers


Some manufacturers and traders are marketing cotton seeds by branding them as BT-3 ( third generation BT cotton) that have not even been developed  scientifically and are not available in the market.

The spurious seed manufacturers are well aware that farmers are not happy with the BT cotton brands that are available in the market as they failed to  resist pest attack- the recent pink bollworm attack on the cotton was a best example to this.

It’s a surprise that police and district administration have been clueless all these days about the manufacturing of spurious cotton seeds on a big scale in the Karimnagar city itself.

Karimnagar police seized 14 quintals of this  “cotton BT-3”  seeds with market value of Rs 17 lakh and 5000 gunny bags used for their packing during their raids on manufacturing units in Karimnagar town.

Fake seed manufacturers have been taking the advantage of the BT – 3 brand that do not exists, claiming that seeds of this brand are pest resistant and give   high yield.

The fake seed manufacturers have been confident that farmers will purchase  their brand with the hope that the BT- 3 seeds of  better quality than the BT cotton seeds of first generation available in the market now.

This is the first time Karimnagar task force police raided unit manufacturing spurious seeds in the Vinayaknagar colony in the city.

Karimnagar Commissioner V. B Kamalasan Reddy said they will take  stern action against firms manufacturing of spurious seeds and their sale across the state.

It appears that manufacturing of spurious seeds and sale is gaining ground in the north Telangana district as it is easy for the manufacturers to sell them to the gullible farmers in the interior areas.

Recently, Thandur task force police seized spurious cotton seeds worth Rs 1.6 crore in the Mancherial district. These seeds were to be transported to Kumarambheem Asifabad district from Kurnool of Andhra Pradesh. 


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