Irrespective of the fact that Telangana is seed hub of the country with about 400 firms engaged in the business and meeting 60 per cent of the country’s seed requirements, the farmers engaged in seed-growing are a disappointed lot due to the delay in fixing rate for their produce and in getting payment to the supply.
“The agreement signed by seed-growers (farmers) with the Telangana State Seed Development Corporation only assures that the seed produced is taken by the corporation without any mention of rate. Even that is not done sometimes”, complains K. Ramakrishna Reddy of Nadimpalli village in Mahabubnagar. He explains that even if their produce was taken by the corporation the rate would be fixed three months after the supply and payment would be made after another three months.
Stating that even foundation seed is not taken back sometimes, S. Krishna Reddy of Mallapur says the saving grace in such an event is 50 per cent subsidy given by the government on supply of breeder seed for producing foundation seed.
“Organisers, mostly middlemen, procure such seed and supply it to agencies such as HACA, Oilfed, Nafed and others and make profit, which otherwise should reach the seed-grower and it is happening in the absence of a proper buy-back agreement”, he points out. According to official sources, the existing norms stipulate fixing of rate of seed produced by farmers within 10 days of its supply to the agency concerned and payment of 75 per cent 15 days after supply and the remaining amount after processing the transaction. However, there was a yawning gap between the norms and what was happening practically, the sources admit.
The seed-growers do not want middlemen between them (seed growers) and the government (the seed corporation). The want the corporation to procure the seed from growers directly with a proper buy-back agreement so that profit made in the process reaches only the farmer.
“Take the example of seed groundnut, which was procured by the seed corporation at Rs.6,300 per quintal last year. However, agencies such as HACA and Oilfed procured the seed left un-lifted by the corporation through middlemen at Rs.5,400 per quintal and supplied it to the corporation later at Rs.9,300 per quintal when the demand for seed had gone up”, explains another seed-grower K. Karunakar Reddy.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy assured a group of farmers during an interaction earlier that the government would take steps to fix the rate of seed procured in buy-back method in time from next year.
