Farmers find respite from shortage of cotton seeds in Adilabad

The cotton growers said that they were now easily able to buy seeds at any dealer in the district centre and 16 mandal centres without needing to wait in long queues.

Adilabad: Farmers found a respite from crunch of cotton seeds with officials taking steps to address the problem.

The cotton growers said that they were now easily able to buy seeds at any dealer in the district centre and 16 mandal centres without needing to wait in long queues. They stated that they would now focus on the farming operations. They expressed happiness over the availability of sufficient cotton seeds. Nearly 30,000 bags of seeds were available across the district.

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The cotton crop is expected to be grown in 4.16 lakh acres in the district. Officials of the agriculture department kept available 10.38 lakh bags containing 450 grams of seeds each. However, farmers hit the headlines for lining up in front of the outlets to purchase the Rashi 659 variety of cotton seeds in district headquarters, facing sweltering heat wave conditions a few days back.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and officials of CMO are learnt to have laid a special focus on the shortage of the seeds. He is said to have spoken to the manufacturers of the seeds who assured to send 80,000 bags of seeds to the district soon. District Collector Rajarshi Shah and Superintendent of Police Gaush Alam inspected the outlets of the seeds to ensure smooth purchasing of the seeds.

Meanwhile, an Agriculture Extension Officer Shiva Charan was placed under suspension for showing negligence in discharging duties. Adilabad mandal agriculture officer Ramesh was transferred to Boath for dereliction of duties. Cases were booked against two seed dealers for allegedly diverting the seeds to black market.