MAHBUBNAGAR : Telangana Seed Development Corporation is gearing up to distribute seeds of different crops in the erstwhile Mahbubnagar district for the Kharif season.
It has kept ready 43,435 quintals of seeds of various crops. Of this, the lion’s share goes to paddy and the corporation has kept ready 30,800 quintals of paddy seed.
The seeds have been kept at the newly built Seed Purification Corporation in Wanaparthy district. The officials are supplying foundation seeds to farmers and cultivating them with the same farmers. Later they are buying the seed from the farmers and carrying out purification.
The seeds will be supplied at a subsidised price to the farmers. The ten-year-old paddy seed is carrying a subsidy of Rs 500 per quintal. If the age of the seed is less than ten years it carries a subsidy of Rs 1,000 per quintal. Other seeds like dal, red gram and ground nut will have a subsidy of 33 pc.
Seeds like maize, jowar and sunflower will have a subsidy of Rs 25 per kg. The corporation has collected 20,500 quintals of paddy seed, 2,000 quintals of dal seed from farmers belonging to Mahbubnagar district. The total number of seed cultivating farmers has not gone up in the district.
As many as 153 farmers have taken up the cultivation of paddy seed and 42 farmers from Nagarkurnool, Gadwal, and Wanaparhty districts have cultivated dal seed for the khariff season. District Manager of the corporation Surender Reddy said: “If there is a deficit, we will procure seeds from other units of the corporation. There won’t be seed shortage in khariff season.”