KENDRAPARA: The fate of a large number of farmers of the district is hanging in balance as the authorities concerned are yet to provide paddy seeds to them for the ensuing kharif cultivation. The Government-run seed supply centres in all the nine blocks of the district have not stocked sufficient paddy seeds for the farmers.
“Farmers of Kendrapara district have planned to raise paddy over 1,23,000 hectares (ha) of land which requires about 75,000 quintal of paddy seeds. The Agriculture department will supply only 16,000 quintal of paddy seeds from Odisha State Seeds Corporation (OSSC) to the farmers in kharif crop season,” said District Agriculture Officer (DAO) Mitrodaya Das.
“All the farmers do not need seeds from Agriculture department for which, we sought 16,000 quintal of seeds from OSSC,” he said. The OSSC’s district office has already stocked 5,000 quintals of paddy seeds for the farmers. “We will get more seeds from OSSC. It has been decided to sell paddy seeds through 118 Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) in the district,” Das added.
A large number of farmers have been running from pillar to post to get the seeds to raise paddy saplings. The authorities have broken the back of farmers by not supplying sufficient paddy seeds to them, said Gayadhar Dhal, secretary of district unit of Krushak Sabha.The farmers of the district have been facing natural disasters each year in the form of flood, cyclone and drought. Several hectares of rabi paddy crops were damaged due to untimely rains and gutsy winds triggered by cyclone Fani.
“Unscrupulous agricultural and block officials of the district are minting money by not providing subsidised seeds to the farmers. These officials are illegally selling seeds to some private traders. As a result, farmers are being compelled to purchase seeds from open market,” alleged Nayan Das, a farmer of Garadapur village.
The seed rates are soaring in the open market due to an alleged nexus between agricultural officials and traders. The official rate of the certified paddy seeds is Rs 1,800 per quintal. But the farmers are being forced to purchase sub-standard seeds from the open market at Rs 2,000 per quintal due to non-availability of sufficient seeds, said Chakradhar Das, a farmer of Bharatapur.