The Andhra Pradesh government has finally cracked the whip on dealers selling spurious seeds.
The penal action has, however, been long overdue. The government’s action though belated is highly welcome.
Now that it has acted tough, the government should find out the real reasons for the spurt in the spurious seed market.
It should also identify the people and the companies responsible, blacklist them forever, and recover the damages from them.
Andhra Pradesh enjoys the distinction of being one of the major producers of various varieties of seeds in India, The Times of India reported.
The government should ensure that the state’s reputation is not affected due to increasing cases of crop failure linked to spurious and substandard seeds.
Andhra Pradesh is primarily an agricultural state. But, ironically successive state governments failed to effectively focus on the menace of spurious seeds.
The emphasis has always been on improving yields, fighting pests, soil nutrition, loan waiver, and farmer education. For reasons best known to our rulers, the core issue of spurious seeds has never been addressed in the manner it deserved.
After all, it is the seed quality that decides the fate of farmers, who spend about a quarter of the farm input on seeds. We enacted about three dozen legislations on agriculture in the last six decades and came out with several policy documents. The core issue of seed viability unfortunately has always taken the back seat.
Take for instance, the latest ‘vision document’ of the state government released in July 2015.
The fancily named ‘Raithu Kosam’ document submitted to the NITI Aayog talks of all that afflicts farmers in Andhra Pradesh, and the strategy needed to address the core issues faced by the agricultural (primary) sector including achieving double digit growth. Curiously, it fails to lay emphasis on the need for stringent penal action against companies that sell spurious seeds.
The document (Vision 2029) simply makes passing references to seed improvement and better cultivars.
It also lays emphasis on the economics of agriculture without realising that bad quality seeds will only financially cripple farmers. We have seen dozens of cases of farmers ending lives after their crops failed due to spurious or substandard seeds.
In fact, the AP government’s strategy against spurious and substandard seeds should have been better planned and executed. AP meets about 60 per cent of the seed requirement of the country in case of certain varieties including maize and sorghum.
Since AP along with Telangana is considered as the seed bowl of India, any dereliction on the part of the government will affect the crop production not only in Telugu states but also in other parts of the country.
Unless seed viability and quality is improved AP cannot dream of achieving higher yields. According to the Vision 2029 document, the percentage gap in yield per kg per hectare in case of jowar is 6.6, and as high as 421 per cent in case of castor. Rice production in AP is 3,116 kg per hectare as against 3,918 kg in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The yield gap in case of rice is 20 per cent. In case of red gram it is 321 per cent with Kerala faring three times better than AP.
Andhra Pradesh has lost some of the best farm research units including the state agricultural university post bifurcation.
The state needs to replicate all these institutions in its territory. It should also focus on public sector seed production, which at present forms hardly 20 per cent of the total seed output and market.
The rest of the market is occupied by private players. This leaves enough room for unscrupulous elements to compromise on seed quality.
The focus should be on the seeds of cotton, sorghum, maize, pearl millet, sunflower, paddy, pulses and oilseeds as AP leads in their production.
Village level vigilance teams should be formed to ensure that only quality and certified seeds are sold in the market. Spurious seed business cannot thrive without tacit political or official support. It’s high time the nexus was broken.