Yavatmal: Indigenous cotton seeds have taken a back seat as farmers have been lured by much hyped assurance of high yield, with the advent of genetically-modified Bt cotton in Indian market.

Shri Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalamban Mission chairman and farm activist Kishore Tiwari said that farmers have got trapped in huge debts arising out of high input costs as compared to output costs.

Tiwari said that, if we take a look at the market strategy followed by the cultivation cost will prove that Bt cotton is a total failure in rain-fed regions like Vidarbha. So now it is high time to promote indigenous seeds of cotton and all crops.

It is proved from experience that only indigenous seeds can suit rain-fed farms and only indigenous seeds can ensure sustainable farming in the region. To achieve high density cotton cultivation in the region, The Nagpur-based Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) has been trying.

Tiwari said that, they have started a novel programme of distributing indigenous seeds of cotton, tur and moong to 133 farmers in Aawalgaon village of Yavatmal district recently. The aim of distributing indigenous seeds is to encourage farmers to produce their own seeds out of the distributed 4 quintals of seeds free of cost.

He said, there shall be a seed bank in each village so that the needy farmers would be given the seeds from it and to save Kolam tribals they have set up a seed bank and free seeds are being distributed to them for the ongoing kharif sowing.

They specially encouraged farmers to produce their own seeds and they should cultivate the seeds with less production cost so that the earning would be more. The state-owned seed company Mahabeej would buy seeds from the farmers and market them in the state at a reasonable price.