State's move to stop spurious seeds, fertilizer

The Agriculture department will depute its officers to keep the vigil and no additional staff would be recruited for the purpose.

Agriculture Minister Umesh Katti on Tuesday said that farmers suffer loss of crop due to supply of sub-standard seeds and fertilizers.

The vigilance officer would be responsible to check the products regularly and take legal action against those supplying sub standard goods.

The government is also contemplating setting up committees under the chairmanship of vice chancellors of agricultural universities to curb distribution of sub standard seeds.

 The committee comprising agriculture experts would conduct tests before releasing the seeds to the market, he said.

The minister said the state received 840mm of rainfall between June 1 and September 25.
The rate of rainfall was 10 per cent more than the average rainfall expected in the period.

The government was expecting 90.94 lakh tonnes of food grains in the kharif season, he added.