Though sowing of the crop has already begun, the Haryana Seed Development Corporation (HSDC) is still to start the sale of wheat seed, forcing farmers to buy seed from private dealers.

Farmers’ unions allege that the HSDC has deliberately delayed the sale of seed to benefit private manufacturers.

Rajinder Beniwal, Director, HSDC, said, “the delay is because the HSDC is still to decide the selling price for wheat seed. Also, it is yet to decide which fungicide, if any, is to be supplied for diseases such as flag smut and loose smut.”

Wheat sowing begins around October-end and it is grown on 25.4 lakh hectares in the state. Farmers, however, purchase wheat seed much earlier, normally when their cotton or paddy crop is procured.

Farmers have been asking them when the corporation will start selling wheat seed, but they have no answer to their queries, Beniwal and another HSDC director Bhagwan Dass Verma says.

The two claim the HSDC has delayed the sale of seed for the third year in a row, affecting the business of the corporation that is running in losses.

Seed sale will begin in the next couple of days, said RS Solanki, Managing Director, HSDC. He also said, “The government has already decided to offer the seed for Rs2,100 per quintal. We will hold a meeting tomorrow to fix the rate of the seed as approved by the government.”

The Agriculture Department has given the HSDC options of carboxin, carbendazim and tebuconzole with a rider that it should be generic, cheapest in the market and registered with the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee, Solanki says as for the fungicide.

Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/