BHUBANESWAR: At a time when farmers of 18 districts are praying for showers as deficient rainfall has made it impossible for them to raise paddy nurseries, Odisha State Seeds Corporation (OSCC) is staring at huge losses due to low offtake of certified seeds year after year.
The corporation has sold 1.62 lakh quintal of certified paddy seeds against 2.57 lakh quintal sold last year during the corresponding period. The corporation is now left with unsold stock of 95,754 quintal as farmers have preferred to buy seeds from the open market. “The corporation will sustain loss of around `10 crore if the current seed stock remains unsold,” sources in OSSC told The New Indian Express.
As per Odisha State Seeds and Organic Products Certification Agency (OSSOPCA), the total production of certified seeds in the state during 2022 kharif season was 3.33 lakh quintal against 5.20 lakh quintal in 2020 kharif season. There is a 36 per cent drop in seed production due to low demand from the farmers. Similarly, seeds production during rabi season last year was 37 per cent less than 2020.
Attributing the low offtake of certified seeds from OSSC to uncertain weather conditions and insistence of government to sell under DBT scheme, sources said farmers are not willing to pay the all-in-cost price (including the margins of dealers/PACS/LAMPS, cost of transportation, loading and unloading charges) upfront to avail subsidy later.
“For the transaction of seeds under DBT, farmers have to go through an OTP-based authentication system. As most of the farmers are neither literate nor well conversant with smartphone, such mandatory practice proved a bane for the corporation which has been requesting the state government to revert back to the old system of selling seeds at subsidised price,” it added.
What is disappointing is that the Agriculture minister and secretary who are taking review of department activities almost on regular basis are least concerned about the problems faced by farmers and the OSSC.
Even after media reports of the grim situation in the state, the department is not ready to provide information about crop condition in districts experiencing moisture stress conditions due to scanty rainfall citing reason it will create panic among farmers.