In Odisha's Nauapada district farmers have alleged that they suffered huge losses in paddy crop in the current Kharif season because government's sale centres provided them bad quality seeds.
According to Krushak Shakti Sansthan (KSS) at least 17 farmers have lost their crops because of of bad quality or outdated seeds in district's Domjhar panchayat alone. The KSS, however, added that the situation prevails all over the district and the actual numbers of the farmers hit by crop failure is much higher.
A farmer, Basant Behera from Domjhar village, alleged that he cultivated high yielding paddy varieties MTU 1001 and Puja in his three acre of irrigated low land but lost all of the crop because of seed failure.
Behra said that though the seedlings were healthy and the crop growth was very good yet there was no fruiting at the end. He further added that after growing healthily, all the plants turned grey without yielding a single sprout.Farmers said that they did not get seeds at any of the sale centres in Naupada district, so they bought it from sale centres in the neighboring Bangomunda block of Balangir district.
KSS said that because of the huge crop losses that farmers suffered, now they are not in the condition of repaying the loans they had taken from the banks.
It's not that farmers of only Domjhar panchayat have suffered crop loss. According to KSS, farmers in other panchayats too suffered losses due to bad quality seeds.
For instance, unavailability of seeds in the markets as well as government sale centres forced the farmers of Palsada village to use old seeds from their own stocks leading to far lower yields.
KSS suggested that there should be immediate intervention into the issue to provide help to the victims of crop loss. It also demanded that the concerned government must have a vigil on such actions which threaten the livelihood and food security of the marginalised section across the country.
Source - http://www.merinews.com
