Pradeepta Nayak is a broken man. The burden of arranging money for treatment of his cancer-ridden wife and the absolute apathy of the state government in paying him his dues has driven him to the edge.
The 59-year-old farmer in Sambalpur district had supplied paddy seeds to the Odisha State Seeds Corporation (OSSC) and has been waiting for his payment for over seven months now. He would have used the money to continue treatment of his wife but the wait is costing a losing breath by the passing day.
“I had supplied paddy seeds to the seeds corporation believing I would soon receive the money and arrange proper treatment for my wife. All my hopes have turned into despair,” Nayak told The New Indian Express.
Making a routine trip every third week to Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh for chemotherapy treatment of his wife, Nayak said he had already spent around Rs 12 lakh, since her cancer detection in April 2024. He alleges that despite repeated representations and meetings with the managing director of the corporation and state Agriculture secretary, the dues have not been released.
An equally poignant story has emerged from Gajapati district where seed grower Surya Narayan Pattnaik (50) and his wife Anita Patnaik (45) are both fighting cancer. After undergoing surgery, he is surviving on liquid food administered through a feeding tube. The couple is now under radiation therapy.
A sharecropper, Pattnaik, who has been producing registered paddy seeds on 15 acre of the village temple land, said his family of three including a college-going daughter were mostly dependent on the payment from the seeds corporation to continue their treatment.
“I have supplied around 180 quintal of seeds to OSSC which owes me over Rs 3 lakh taking into account the Rs 800 bonus (input subsidy per quintal) over the seed cost,” Pattnaik said.
These distress stories are not isolated ones. Thousands of registered seed growers across Odisha, who supplied certified paddy seeds to the corporation between January and February after harvesting their crop in November and December, are still awaiting full payment. While some have received part of their dues, many claim they have not been paid at all.
A different category of farmers
Unlike ordinary paddy cultivators, certified seed growers undertake a far more demanding and expensive process. They cultivate seeds under strict supervision following prescribed agronomic practices. Fields are inspected several times during the crop cycle. Seed certification agencies verify genetic purity before certification.
The cost of producing certified seed is significantly higher than producing ordinary paddy. Producing one quintal of certified paddy seeds costs nearly Rs 500 more than ordinary paddy because of additional field inspections, rogue plant removal, higher input costs, certification charges, separate storage and handling.
How the system works
Every year, OSSC enters into agreements with the registered seed growers. The corporation specifies the quantity of certified seeds required and farmers produce accordingly. This is important because certified seeds cannot be diverted elsewhere.
On an average, a farmer produces nearly 50 quintal of seeds per hectare but the corporation procures only around eight quintal. Once the selected quantity is lifted, the remaining crop loses its certification status and is sold as ordinary paddy in the open market. Thus, the farmer bears the higher production cost of certified seed while recovering normal paddy prices for most of the remaining produce. The economics work only because the corporation promises assured procurement and timely payment. When that payment is delayed by seven months, the entire model collapses.
According to Buddhdeb Nayak, a large farmer from Ghantimal village of Rengali block with a landholding of nearly 60 acre, the Agriculture department had reportedly instructed OSSC to procure around 1.65 lakh quintal of certified paddy seeds for the current 2025-26 kharif season because certified seed sales had remained weak last year. However, OSSC allegedly procured nearly 1.75 lakh quintal, around six per cent higher than the planned quantity.
This administrative miscalculation of procurement exceeding requirement has affected payments and the farmers are bearing the brunt. Dues to procurement of additional 10,000 quintal, the fund release has been held up, sources said.
When ordinary paddy is sold through government procurement centres, farmers generally receive payment through DBT within around seven days. But those producing certified seeds have been waiting for nearly seven months for no fault of theirs. Farmers harvested their crops during November and December, while seed procurement took place during January and February.
Ironically, the state government has been making a budgetary provision of Rs 100 core towards corpus fund of OSSC for timely payment to the farmers. Sources said, when aggrieved seed growers met the department authorities, they said the payment issues will be decided at the Board of Directors meeting of the corporation. The Agriculture secretary is the chairperson of the corporation and the onus lies on him to convene the Board meeting. But, the government seems in no hurry to take a call on the issue, sources added.
Seed growers matter
Certified seed growers are central to improving agricultural productivity. Every agricultural scientist agrees that better seed is the cheapest technology available to increase yields. This is measured through the Seed Replacement Rate (SRR).
SRR indicates the percentage of cropped area where farmers use certified seed instead of farm-saved seed. Higher SRR means better yields, disease-free seed, improved genetic purity, greater resistance to pests and climate stress, and higher farm income. Simply put, replacing old seed with fresh certified seed improves productivity without increasing cultivated area.
Odisha’s performance on seed replacement has remained below national normative levels of 33 per cent. According to information placed in Parliament in March 2026, the paddy SRR stood at 21.54 per cent in 2018 and increased marginally to 33.77 per cent in 2021 before declining to 33 per cent in 2022. The SRR further slipped to 27.65 per cent in 2023 and showed a marginal growth of 28 per cent in 2024.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in its 2020 report, had already highlighted serious concerns. The audit observed that although paddy SRR had improved to 36.01 per cent during 2015-16, it again fell below the normative level in subsequent years.
The report also pointed out that OSSC produced only 20.35 lakh quintal of seeds during 2013-18 against its own target of 35.80 lakh quintal. The CAG linked the shortfall in production and distribution of certified seeds with the declining seed replacement rate.
Shrinking seed availability
Current figures indicate another worrying trend. During the ongoing kharif season, OSSC has sold only around 1.40 lakh quintal of certified paddy seeds compared to 1.45 lakh quintal during the corresponding period last year. Even if the corporation reaches its programmed sale of 1.65 lakh quintal, the numbers remain far below Odisha’s actual requirement. The state cultivates paddy over nearly 37 lakh hectare during kharif. At an average seed rate of 30 kg per hectare, the total seed requirement works out to 11.10 lakh quintal.
With the recommended SRR of around 33 per cent, the state ideally requires roughly 3.6 lakh quintal of certified seed (about one-third of the total seed requirement). By comparison, even the planned sale of 1.65 lakh quintal would support an SRR of only about 15%, less than half of the recommended level.
Another issue attracting attention is the relatively low utilisation of central assistance under seed-related programmes. Under the seed components of the National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Odisha reportedly received only about Rs 2.3 lakh in 2023-24 and Rs 11.48 lakh in 2024-25, which are significantly lower than several other states.
Farmers may stop producing
Producing certified seed is a voluntary activity. Farmers choose it because it offers assured procurement and better returns. But delayed payments alter that calculation. Many growers now question whether they should continue seed production at all. If they shift back to ordinary paddy cultivation, the state may face fewer certified seed growers, lower certified seed production, reduced seed replacement rate, greater dependence on private suppliers and lower productivity over time. This would hurt not only seed growers but also lakhs of ordinary farmers who depend on certified seeds for their yield.
The road ahead
Odisha is an agrarian state where more than 60 per cent of the population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture. For decades, progressive farmers partnered with OSSC to make the state largely self-sufficient in certified paddy seed production, which now appears strained.
The immediate priority is to clear the pending dues of seed growers without delay. The state also needs a comprehensive strategy to revive certified seed production, improve distribution, raise the seed replacement rate and restore farmers’ confidence in the public seed system.