Cotton seed farmers pour out woes to farmers’ welfare chief

Cotton seed farmers pour out woes to farmers’ welfare chief

A group of cotton seed farmers from Jogulamba-Gadwal district, on Tuesday, requested Chairman of Telangana Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Commission M. Kodanda Reddy to do justice to them, following the failure of the foundation seeds given to them by seed companies through organisers.

Led by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader from the district K. Vijay Kumar, the cotton seed farmers submitted a memorandum to Mr. Kodanda Reddy explaining their distress due to failure of the seed and refusal of seed companies or organisers to pay them any compensation for wasting their hard work in raising the seed crop for a year.

They are refusing to buy back the ‘failed’ seed, the farmers explained to the Commission Chairman. They had raised the seed crop as per the standards specified by the companies but the latter were terming them as failed seed now, based on the grow-out test conducted by themselves instead of getting the seed tested in certified labs.

The farmers also requested the Chairman to make it mandatory for seed companies to supply the foundation seed to farmers through the State Government (Agriculture Department) instead of organisers, get the seed grown tested in its Department labs, get samples of seed produced in the recent season tested in department labs instead of companies, terming them as failed seed on their own and stop organisers from collecting interest on investment given for growing cotton seed.

Responding to their plea, Mr. Kodanda Reddy said that the government was planning to bring in a new seed act and the issues raised by Gadwal seed farmers would be included in the draft to do justice to them. The farmers also met BRS leaders K.T. Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao, requesting them to pursue the matter with the government.