Agriculture Minister sounds warning to cotton seed suppliers against exploiting farmers

In a statement issued here, he said cotton seed was being sold at high prices at some places taking advantage of the farmers’ need and said such instances would be dealt with sternly.

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy on Tuesday sounded a warning to seed supply agencies against indulging in exploitation of cotton farmers.

In a statement issued here, he said cotton seed was being sold at high prices at some places taking advantage of the farmers’ need and said such instances would be dealt with sternly.

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Directing the officials concerned to initiate action against such companies promptly, he wanted them to ensure that they would not be able to create artificial shortage of cotton seeds and cash in on the situation.

He made it clear that the State had made more cotton seed stock available compared to the actual requirement. Farmers usually prefer BG II hybrid seeds for cotton cultivation

The cotton seed being supplied by all companies are of same variety. The seed types are sourced from the private companies. The maximum price fixed by the central government per 450 gram packet was Rs.853.

Though the seed pricing was being taken care of by the Centre, the price regulation is the task shouldered by the States. The farmers would not be let down by the State government on this count at any cost.

The government would not hesitate to cancel the licenses of such dealers of they were found to be deceiving the farmers, he warned.

Cotton crop is expected to be grown in 65 lakh acres this season and the seed requirement would be in the order of 58,500 quintals. But over 77,500 quintals of seed was already available in the market. This includes seed available with the different companies. There is no need for any panic buying and playing into the hands of the greedy sellers, he added.