GUNTUR: Officials of Agriculture and Vigilance departments have been conducting inspections at seed shops for the last few days in the wake of sale of poor quality seeds to farmers at exorbitant prices.
Till now, the officials inspected 549 seed shops in 39 mandals in the district and seized seeds worth Rs 30 lakh, and stopped the sale of products worth Rs 81 lakh in the last 14 days.
District Seed In-charge Officer Goutam Prasanna told TNIE the arrival of the required seeds were delayed due to lockdown; they were brought from Hyderabad.
As a result, the sale of seeds to the farmers began on May 28. “Mandal-level teams, headed by tahsildars, and nine district-level teams are conducting inspections and have seized seeds worth Rs 30 lakh till now. We expect that this might increase as the business will peak in the next 15 days.”
To facilitate the farmers, the state government is making plans to set up an online market for doorstep supply of quality seeds to them, he said. “To prevent the sale of poor quality seeds, we are providing pre-tested seeds free of cost to the farmers through Rythu Bharosa Kendras. Till now seeds worth Rs 2 crore have been distributed and we will soon reach the target of Rs 9 crore.” “Most are still buying poor-quality seeds. Through RBKs, the farmers will be provided pre-tested seeds.”