A majority of black soil farmers in Anantapur, Kurnool and Kadapa districts have begun migrating from groundnut to cotton crops, after a groundnut seed variety, KL-1812, that was promoted by the Andhra Pradesh government fell out of demand during the kharif 2022.
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The KL-1812, developed at the Kadiri Agriculture Research Station, was touted as one that could withstand situations of both drought and excess rainfall. At a time when the country faced shortage of edible oils, the KL-1812 promised to increase the total yield and give more oil as it has 51% oil content compared to 48% of its predecessor K-6, which phased out officially in 2020.
But, the demand drastically fell for the variety as farmers are preferring cotton, whose prices are ruling high in the market .As a result, 2,000 quintals of of KL-1812 variety seeds are left in the godowns.
The Andhra Pradesh Seeds Development Corporation, too, has 40,000 quintals of the KL-1812 variety left over from kharif, and the certified seed is valid only till March 2023 (end of rabi season). During the current rabi season, the corporation could sell only 32 quintals in Anantapur so far.
The quantity of seeds given on subsidy in Anantapur, too, has decreased. While it was 2.3 lakh quintals in 2021 kharif, it came down to 1.8 lakh quintals this time. Farmers, who purchased KL-1812 even for ₹22,000 per quintal last year, do not come forward to take it under the government subsidy scheme now.