State government receives 28,171 complaints from aggrieved farmers regarding poor quality of seeds.
The farmers of Vidarbha, Marathwada and Khandesh regions have suffered heavy losses due to the poor quality soybean seed purchased from different companies. The germination of seeds was abnormally low in these regions during the 2011 kharif season.
The Union agriculture minister of state, Harish Rawat, shared this information with Kolhapur MP, Raju Shetty, who had sought details on the issue from the ministry during the recently concluded session of the Parliament.
According to the details furnished by the ministry to the Kolhapur MP, the state government has received a total of 28,171 complaints from farmers of 124 blocks involving 25 districts from the three regions about the poor germination of the soybean seeds.
The total complaints cover the area of 72,958.86 acre of agriculture land. And in 75% of the cases, the crops failed due to poor quality of seeds. In the rest of the 25% cases, crop failed due to poor rains, faulty sowing and other reasons.
According to Rawat, the state government has requested the directorate of soybean research (DSR), Indore to look into the issue and suggest measures so that farmers do not suffer in the future.
The Union agriculture ministry has asked the state government to submit a detailed report on the matter.
A soybean farmer from Killari village of Latur district, Milind Jamdar, told DNA over the telephone that since the crops failed, he had undertaken re-sowing of the same crop.
“Normally, 70% to 80% soybean seeds sown in my field germinate well. But this year, just 20% seeds germinated on my five acre. There was no option but to undertake re-sowing,” Jamdar said.
According to him, sowing of soybean on one acre costs at least Rs3,500. “Both our money and time have been wasted,” he lamented.
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