The Hindu Business Line : AP Seed Bill to nail spurious traders

He told newspersons here on Monday that the bill sought to increase the penalty heavily to discourage the practice of selling spurious seeds, crippling the farmers. "The penalty will be increased from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000 for the first time offenders. The second time, offenders would have to cough up Rs one lakh and jail term of six months," he said.

While making registration compulsory, the upcoming bill would make it mandatory to go for seed certification either from the agricultural university or from the seed-certifying agency.

In a related development, the Government vowed to reactivate the agency that had been found "dormant" over a period of time.

The Minister was briefing the press on the decisions taken at a high-level agricultural review meeting held earlier in the day. The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, chaired the meeting to complete the unfinished agenda of last month's review meeting.

The Government also decided to set up `Seed Villages' in 200 Assembly constituencies, covering a total area of 8,000 hectares.

An Assistant Director (Agri) would supervise the activity that envisaged preparation of quality seeds for the next kharif season.

In another important move, the Government decided to revive the AP Agro Industries Corporation that was headed for closure.

Giving relief to the farmers, the meeting decided to take up a massive awareness campaign to educate the farming community on the waiver of stamp duty on loans up to Rs one lakh.

"Notwithstanding the Government's decision to withdraw the duty, many farmers continued to pay it. We are going to print one lakh posters and display at banks and panchayat offices," Mr Raghuveera Reddy said.

On spurious pesticides, the Government took up a 10-day State-wide drive to ensure 100 per cent inspection. "This campaign will conclude on October 27," he said.

The Minister said the Government ensured significant increase in sanction of agricultural loans. "In the kharif season, loans to the tune of Rs 7,010 crore were disbursed as against Rs 5,105 crore last year," he said.

Noticing the absence of proper fertiliser and pesticide labs, the Government decided to set up such labs in 17 districts at a cost of Rs 25.50 crore.

Dr Rajasekhara Reddy also insisted that all the officials in the department should go for extension training every year to get themselves updated.

Yet another important decision was to encourage crop diversification, reducing pressure on the depleting groundwater levels in the State.

With a special focus on 11 districts like Mahboobnagar, Medak and Nalgonda, the Government had set targets for increase in pulses (from nine lakh hectares to 13 lakh hectares), oil seeds (from 5.54 lakh hectares to 8.28 lakh hectares) and coarse grains (4.89 lakh hectares to 8.82 lakh hectares), while reducing the paddy sowing area (from 12 lakh hectares to 8 lakh hectares).

In a bid to educate the farmers on the need for the shift, the Government would take up a massive campaign at mandal level from November 1 to 15.

To support this initiative, four Crop Resource Groups would be set up. While the first three groups would focus on paddy, groundnut and cotton, the other group would work on crop diversification.

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