The State government will enter into agreements (Memoranda of Understanding) with seed companies to make them more accountable, according to Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Botcha Satyanarayana. He was intervening on behalf of the Agriculture Minister in a short discussion on ‘supply of seeds’ in the Legislative Council on Tuesday.
Responding to charges by MLCs that farmers were being forced to buy seeds in the black market because of seed scarcity, the Minister said that seed companies would be made accountable for any instances of black marketing or sale of spurious seeds in the market.
Giving details of seed distribution, the Minister said that 7.51 lakh quintals of seed with a subsidy value of ₹210.92. crore had been indented during this kharif. Certified seed was distributed on subsidy to farmers through D-Krishi app, a tab based Android Application, which identified the actual cultivators by biometric thumb impression using their Aadhar number for validation and distribution of the required quantity of seeds.
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