BHUBANESWAR : With no firm commitment from the state government for grant of input subsidy to farmers supplying certified seeds to the Odisha State Seeds Corporation (OSSC), seed growers are seriously contemplating to dispose of their stock in the open market.
Even as OSSC has procured about one lakh quintal of certified seeds from farmers registered with it for the next kharif season, none of the farmers have received input subsidy of Rs 800 per quintal over and above the seed price of Rs 2,921 per quintal.
“The state government has announced to extend the benefit of input subsidy to registered seed-growing farmers. The seed pricing committee of the state has fixed the price of long duration paddy seed varieties over 10 years old at Rs 2,921 per quintal. Some of the farmers have received partial payment but the corporation says it has not received any communication from the government about payment of input subsidy,” said Ganesh Nayak, a farmer of Ganjam district.
Sources in OSSC said the corporation is in limbo in the absence of a permanent managing director. After the transfer of Bhabesh Kumar Nayak to Home department, the post is lying vacant. Though Nayak is in charge of the corporation, he is hardly giving time. “There is no one to listen to our concerns,” Nayak said.
The state-run corporation has set a target to procure 3.5 lakh quintal of certified paddy seeds for supply to farmers in the next kharif season.
“Farmers registered with OSSC are making inquiries about payment of input subsidy but we are not in a position to give them any assurance in the absence of any communication from the government,” said farmer member in the OSSC board of directors Ashok Baral.
As per the agreement with OSSC, initial payment to the tune of 60 per cent of seed cost has to be made within seven days of receiving certified seeds from the growers. The second and final payment is to be made within one month of the receipt of the report from laboratory.
However, the corporation has directed its seed processing officers (SPOs) to release the dues of seed growers on the basis of the laboratory’s report. Some of the farmers have received partial payment while other are awaiting the same, he added.
Since there is a sense of uncertainty, farmers are now contemplating to sell the certified seeds as normal paddy in the open market which will fetch them `3,100 per quintal, the price offered by the government for paddy procurement including the input subsidy of Rs 800.
If they sell to the corporation as certified seeds, they should get Rs 3,721 per quintal including the input subsidy amount as announced by the government, Baral said.