Farmers protest for compensation for lose of crop due to fake seeds

Pedda Kanjarla (Patancheru): Cotton farmers of Pedda Kanjarla village of Patancheru mandal resorted to stage protest with the withered crop samples by blocking National Highway-65 on Thursday demanding justice for the crop damaged befell them by the fake cotton seeds sold by one Buchi Reddy of their village.

Last week, some cotton farmers of the village sprayed herbicide called Glyfosate (45% SL) to control the weed in their cotton crop as the manual weeding by hiring labour is costlier. But three days after the spray, the entire crop was affected and dried by the effect of the weed killer. The farmers purchased the herbicide from a pesticide dealer at Doulatabad, which was happened to be banned by the government right after the farmers used for their crop. The farmers say the seed dealer Buchi Reddy sold fake seeds with a labelled as 'Pallavi' by assuring the crop by those seeds will not be affected by any kind of herbicides and bring good yields. Police reached the spot and cleared the road by taking the agitating farmers into their control.

“We were conned to purchase the fake seeds by the dealer Buchi Reddy. As many as, the seeds were planted and cultivated in 400 acres in our village. We have been cheated and have lost our crop”, said a farmer Ibrahim. Another victim of fake cotton seeds Yadaiah said, “I cultivated the seeds in 11 acres and the entire crop had withered by the effect of the herbicide sprayed last week. I am hopeless and helpless now”.

The Mandal Agriculture Officer P Usha and other officials visited the damaged crop fields at the village and said the crop was damaged by the usage of banned herbicide and the seeds (Bollgard-II) used for the crop were certified and not fake. The government had banned Bollgard-III variety but not the BG-II. However, a criminal case would be registered by the concerned officials after the investigation based on the receipts and samples.

However, the farmers alleged that the officials visited the fields but were derelict and have not taken any action against the accused and there has not been any assurance from the officials or government to support us for the loss of crop. We are urging the government to support us, said a farmer Ramulamma.

Meanwhile, receiving oral complaint from the farmers, Mandal Agriculture Officer P Usha wrote to the Assistant Director of Agriculture of Patancheru Division BJ Suresh Babu seeking further actions regarding the observations done by her after visit to the field along with AEO and ADACR of Patancheru.

In the letter, she stated that the farmers purchased the alleged spurious cotton seeds labled as Pallavi Seeds (BG-II) from the unauthorised dealer Buchi Reddy who sold the fake seeds to nearly 60 farmers in the village and damaged the crop after the usage of the above said herbicide which destroyed the root system of the crop including the weed citing one of the farmers crop.

The distressed farmers said they trusted the seed seller for a few years as he sold good seeds previous years. It is learnt that the unauthorized dealer has no invoice bill for the seeds which were marketed and transported by buses from Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh state.