BHUBANESWAR : The Odisha State Seeds Corporation (OSSC) may not meet its target to supply 3.5 lakh quintal certified paddy seeds to the farmers for kharif crops as registered growers have started disposing of their stock either in the paddy procurement channel or in open market.
In the absence of a firm commitment from the government for payment of input assistance of Rs 800 per quintal for certified seeds, most of the seed growers of Bargarh and Sambalpur districts have sold their seeds to government agencies under decentralised paddy procurement or in open market with an assured price of Rs 3,100 per quintal. Those farmers who have supplied seeds to the State Seeds Corporation continue to wait for more than five months for the input assistance which they are supposed to get within 48 hours of delivery.
The corporation has procured only 1.5 lakh quintal certified paddy seeds for the ensuing kharif operation. The corporation has reduced the target to 2.5 lakh quintal as growers having stock of certified seeds have started disposing them of at primary agriculture cooperative societies in the ongoing rabi procurement under minimum support price.
“The state cabinet which approved the proposal for implementation of Samrudha Krushak Yojana for three years from 2024-25 to 2026-27 in October 2024, decided to provide input assistance of Rs 800 per quintal over and above the seed price of Rs 2,921 as fixed by the state seed pricing committee. It was decided that the directorate of agriculture and food production will release the input assistance on the basis of the demand placed by OSSC,” said farmers’ member in the OSSC Board of Directors Ashok Baral.
The corporation had placed a demand of Rs 20 crore to the directorate in January with a request to release Rs 10 crore in advance and the rest amount on the submission of utilisation certificate for seeds purchased. There is no response from the government yet, he rued.
As per the government norms, seed growers were given 27 per cent more than the minimum support price for certified seeds because of the additional cost involved. The seed growers will be at a loss if they sell certified seed at the price fixed by the government without the input assistance, Baral said.
The fact remains that the state government had made a provision of Rs 5,000 crore for Samrudha Krushak Yojana for 2024-25 to meet the fund requirement for input assistance.
The budgeted amount fell short after procurement of nearly 74 lakh tonne of paddy. A large number of farmers have not received their input assistance. It is not clear yet how to meet the balance amount, official sources said.
The seeds corporation has been in limbo since October last year in the absence of a permanent managing director. The former managing director who has been transferred to the Home department is in additional charge of the corporation but he has hardly any time for the corporation, Baral said.