Nagpur:- The number of offmers affected by soybean seed failure in Vidarbha has increased six-fold in less than a week. Compared with 1,100 odd complaints reported by the agricultural department offices in the divisions of Nagpur and Amravati by June of last week, the number is more than 6,600 as on Thursday.
The department plans to report offenses against businesses that don’t offer replacement seeds to farmers. The department is seeking other legal remedies than the rules laid down in the Seeds Act, which could result in more stringent action, a source said.
The division Amravati accounts for 6,000 of the complaints. The division encompasses western Vidarbha, and a larger scale of the issue was seen here. The Nagpur office received 600 complaints, compared with 110 a week earlier. As rains have started, complaints are expected to stop pouring in, said one official in the department of agriculture. This is because the seeds can start to germinate because of the rain
Meanwhile, the seed companies are replacing the stock on the basis of department-led inquiries, said sources.
However, there are also instances where seeds did not germinate because of the culpability of the farmers, for whom no compensation is available, an official said. The soybean seeds don’t germinate whether they’re sown deeper or more until it rains.
An unusually high number of soybean seeds this year had failed to clear the laboratory tests needed to give a seal of quality. Following that, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Union issued directives to lower standards. Contrary to the previous rule that at least 70% of the seeds in a lot should germinate in order to clear the check, the requirement has been lowered to 60%.
To make up for that, the number of seeds in each bag was increased, and a line in red ink reading ‘relaxed standards’ was also printed on the packets. The seed had been ruined during last year’s harvest period due to heavy rains, said sources.
Soyabean is the region’s second most valuable crop after cotton. The area under soybean is expected to increase this year as farmers have been cutting back on cotton growing.
Gajanan Singadwar, a farmer in Telangana bordering Patanbori village, in Yavatmal district, said farmers took out a rally after the soybean seeds failed. This has culminated in the dealers paying back the seed costs. The villages in neighboring Telangana have a larger area on the Maharashtra side under soybean as opposed to the fields, he said.
Leader of Congress Devanand Pawar said he would file a PIL in the matter, and he has also requested that the ministries of state and central agriculture set up a seed dispute tribunal to resolve these issues.
