Certified paddy seeds fail to germinate, farmers allege poor quality

BHAWANIPATNA: Even as sowing activities for the kharif season are in full swing, farmers are a distressed lot due to alleged poor quality of certified paddy seeds supplied by the Odisha State Seeds Corporation Limited (OSSCL) at many places in Kalahandi district.  

Apart from primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACS), farmers here procure certified seeds of OSSCL through registered private dealers on the basis of requisition and advance deposits.But the quality of supplies has come under scanner after many farmers in Dharamgarh block alleged that majority of seeds are not germinating, incurring them heavy losses.

Sources said more than 90 farmers from Rainguda and  Jayantpur villages had procured OSSCL  paddy seeds from a local private dealer two weeks back. The seeds were procured for a paddy nursery. However, after 15 days, the farmers alleged that germination hardly between 20 per cent (pc) to 50 pc. “We were shocked to see that majority seeds did not germinate, and reported the matter to the dealer besides agriculture officials,” said aggrieved farmers Ratika Naik, Abhiram Naik  and Hiradhar.

They attributed the problem to poor monitoring by the seed corporation office in the district. Although Kalahandi is one of the major paddy growing and seed production districts, the local OSSCL office does not have a regular assistant seed production officer and an official from Balangir is in charge, the farmers complained.

For the current kharif season, around 15,555 quintal OSSCL seeds have been supplied to farmers through 67 PACS and 115 registered private dealers. Contacted, chief district agriculture officer Pradipta Kumar Sahoo said agriculture officials of Dharamgarh have been asked to conduct field enquiry and report on the matter.Assistant seed production officer of OSSCL Md.Miraz Alli said he has no information on the  alleged poor seed quality.