Agri minister promises adequate seed supply

Karnataka Agriculture Minister Bandeppa Kashampur has promised farmers that there would be no dearth of seeds for sowing in the state.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday he said the demand for seeds during kharif was 58,000 quintals and the state had a stock of 72,000 quintals collected through tender.

He said that no company from Maharashtra was supplying seeds to Karnataka and added that there was a delay in getting seeds from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, and he appealed to farmers not to be anxious.

The officials have been instructed to distribute seeds for 16 crops with the state subdising 75 per cent of the cost of the seeds for small and marginal farmers in the state.

Kashampur said that the agriculture department had distributed seeds worth Rs 82 crore to farmers in the state at a subsidised price.

In Dharwad district the seed distribution last year was to the tune of Rs 28.71 million and this year it distributed seeds worth Rs 18 million. The district had a stock of 6,500 quintals of seeds of which 4,000 quintals had reached farmers.

The minister admitted that there was a shortage of fertiliser (di-ammonium phosphate) in the state and the government had written to the Centre to bail it out. There was a stock of 4,000 tonnes of fertiliser with Zuari Company and the state had requested the Railways to help transport it to Karnataka, Kashampur informed.

He also warned fertiliser dealers of penal action if they sold fertiliser for prices higher than those prescribed. He said the department had focussed on extension services and action plans in consultation with agriculture scientists, officials and progressive farmers.

The chief minister has convened a meeting of farmers' representatives on Thursday, he said.