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Seed shortage looms large over State
Seed shortage looms large over State, Eight months on since the State bifurcation took place, the Telangana government is yet to come out of teething problems and empower its machinery, the TSSDCL, while its counterpart, the AP Seeds Corporation Limited, is actively working.
TSSDCL owes Rs.25 crore to seed suppliers; Rs.9 crore to growers
Warangal: Bifurcation blues are likely to hit farmers in Telangana hard in the ensuing kharif season in the form of acute shortage of seeds due to the State Government’s failure to release the funds to the newly-formed Telangana State Seed Development Corporation Limited (TSSDCL).
Eight months on since the State bifurcation took place, the Telangana government is yet to come out of teething problems and empower its machinery, the TSSDCL, while its counterpart, the AP Seeds Corporation Limited, is actively working.
Despite its existence and having an IAS officer as its managing director, the TSSDCL is still in a dormant state as the government neither provided it with required funds nor empowered it fully.
As a result, the TSSDCL is not in a position to pay the pending bills to the seed suppliers and the farmers (seed growers) who also supplied seed to the agency.
The TSSDCL owes about a whopping Rs 25 crore to the seed suppliers and Rs 9 crore to seed growers (farmers) in the State.
Warangal district seed growers are the worst sufferers with a lion’s share of about Rs 4.5 crore.
With kharif fast-approaching, the State Government is preparing to call for tenders for the supply of groundnut, soya bean and green manure seed on February 5. However, it appears that the seed suppliers with their dues pending are unlikely to take part in the tenders. In Warangal alone, the farmers need about 1.20 lakh quintals of green manure, 80,000 quintals of groundnut and 20,000 quintals of soya bean seed for the ensuing kharif. Unless the government comes up with some measures immediately to resolve the issue, the farmers across the State are in for a huge setback.
Speaking to The Hans India on Friday, TSSDCL district manager G. Vijay Mohan Reddy said that they owe about Rs 4.49 crore to seed growers in the district. He said that there was a huge demand for green manure and groundnut seed in the district. Unless the seed supplies reach them by April, it would be tough for farmers, he added.
State Seed Growers Director Arjula Sampath Reddy said that despite repeated appeals, there was no reply either from the TSSDCL or from the State Government.
“It would lead to a severe seed crunch in the State if the seed suppliers were not paid their dues,” Reddy said.
