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With several States blaming the seed companies for shortage of seeds, the National Seeds Association of India (NSAI) has asserted that the cottonseed supply is adequate to take care of kharif needs.
Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh flayed seed firms for failing to provide enough seeds. Mr Kanna Lakshminarayana, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Agriculture, warned Mahyco of stern action if it failed to honour the promises it made. The company’s Bt cottonseed is in huge demand in all the cotton growing districts. This has resulted in heavy rush at seed shops.
In Maharashtra, the company has been threatened with a ban on selling the cottonseed following allegations of blackmarketeering.
“It is possible that some of the hybrid brands may be in greater demand than others, but it would be incorrect to conclude that any such shortage is deliberate on the part of the seed producers,” according to Mr K.V. Subbarao, President of NSAI, in a statement here.
“Hybrid seeds are produced through contract farmers. The production system is similar to any other agricultural crop production and is, hence, dependent on several variables such as rain, soil health, diseases and farming practices. These variables often create a gap between potential output and actual output,” he argued.
A seed is a biological product with long production cycle and making a particular brand of hybrid seeds available at a short time owing to a sudden spurt in demand becomes impossible, the association pointed out.
>kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in
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