BHUBANESWAR: With Akshaya Tritiya heralding the beginning of kharif cultivation, Odisha State Seeds Corporation (OSSC) has initiated measures for pre-positioning seeds and fertilisers at the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society.
Having procured around 2.5 lakh quintals of certified paddy seeds from registered seed growers, the State-run Corporation is running short of its target of 4.5 lakh quintals owing to the ongoing lockdown.
“Seed processing units have been fully operationalised in all the districts after the Government lifted Covid-19 restrictions on agricultural activities. We are confident of meeting the target within a couple of weeks,” asserted a senior officer of the Corporation.
Meanwhile, the State Government has instructed Seed Corporation to accept 30 quintals of certified paddy seeds per hectare from the registered farmers.Faced with labour constraints at the processing units, the seed production officers of the Corporation were refusing to take more than 20 quintals of seeds per hectare. The Corporation had to change its decision after this paper reported the plight of seed growers.
Though the State Government is yet finalise the kharif programme for 2020-21, instructions have been issued to supply certified seeds of less than 10 years variety to farmers at a subidised rate of Rs 1,950 per quintal against all-in-cost of Rs 3,195 per quintal. The subsidy amount of Rs 1,245 per quintal will be sent to the account of farmers under the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.
For seed varieties over 10 years old, the price is Rs 2,250 per quintal after a subsidy of Rs 945. Puja, Lalata, Swarna, 1009 and 1010 are the popular varieties of paddy seeds in the State. The seed prices were fixed at the State-level Seed Pricing Committee meeting chaired by Principal Secretary Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment here last week.
The subsidy to farmers is given under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) and implementation of the programme for the current kharif season was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture on April 24.
The Ministry has asked the State Government to submit the annual action plan for 2020-21 for approval and release of the Central share for kharif programme. Sources in the Agriculture department said the State has stock of 2.88 lakh tonnes of fertilisers against a requirement of about 8.6 lakh tonne.