The mad rush of farmers for free horse gram seeds in V. Kota mandal has forced the officials of the Agriculture department to go in for procuring additional stocks, and plans are afoot to continue the distribution for the next one week.
Horse gram is set to be sown in about 5,000 hectares in the mandal this season and it is expected to be harvested before rabi. High demand for horse gram in the market has prompted the farmers to go in for it in large extents. Agriculture Officer (V. Kota) S. Amrutha Valli told The Hindu that as part of bailing out farmers from the drought conditions and to encourage them to raise alternative crops instead of traditional varieties, nine tonnes of horse gram seeds were procured for free distribution. “Though there is a norm to distribute the stocks through the biometric system, due to technical reasons, we have adopted manual distribution, recording the Aadhaar numbers. We have registered all entries of stocks and distribution. As per general norms, we have to distribute a 25 kg bag to two farmers. In view of heavy demand, we have received instructions to allocate 5 kg to each farmer,” she said.
Warning against misuse
The official said that it came to her notice that some farmers who had procured the stocks earlier had resorted to selling each bag of 25 kg seeds at ₹1,000. “We want to cover all the farmers who are showing interest in alternative crops. We have sought another six tonnes of seeds for this purpose. Unfortunately, some farmers are spreading falsehood. Those who misuse the freely distributed seeds would be dealt with sternly,” the official said.