4 seed cos booked in state for selling bogus Bt cotton seeds

The Times of India 
August 29, 2018

The pink bollworm crisis in cotton has taken a new turn year with two criminal cases registered in Jalna and Amravati districts against four seed companies including multinational, Bayer Crop Sciences. The farmers on whose complaint the offences have been registered were backed by activists of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghantana (SSS) headed by MP Raju Shetti. 

Other companies booked for allegedly cheating the farmers by selling genetically modified Bt cotton seeds claimed to be resistant to bollworm are — Nagpur’s Ankur Seeds, Tamil Nadu’s Rasi Seeds and Andhra Pradesh’s Nuziveedu Seeds. Farmers  claim the seeds are bogus and do not protect against bollworm.

The state’s agriculture department last year had received over 13 lakh similar complaints against seed companies from farmers. Hearing has been done in 9 lakh cases and orders issued for paying a cumulative amount of Rs93 crore as compensation. 

Sanjay Sable, a farmer from village Wadegaon in Warud taluka of Amravati district filed an FIR with Benoda Saheed police station on August 27 claiming that Ankur, Bayer and Rasi had sold substandard cotton seeds to him due to which bollworm attacks had come two months earlier than last year. The police registered an offence under Sections 420, 427, 34 of IPC and under Cotton Act 2009 . Sable told TOI he had lodged a complaint after the agriculture department officials inspected his farm and found 100% damage to the crop at flowering stage on August 15. 

Another FIR was registered in Jalna district by farmer Krishna Ganesh Bonde of Chikli village in Badnapur taluka on August 14, 2018. This complaint is only against Nuziveedu Seeds. The agriculture department has sent samples from both places for testing. 

S R Waydande, police inspector from Benoda police station, told TOI he registered the offence on insistence of activists from SSS and farmers. “But investigation will start only after test reports are obtained from agriculture department,” he said. 

A senior official in the state’s agriculture ministry said a large number of cotton seeds had not claimed the Bt variety to be resistant against bollworm. 

Devendra Bhuyar, Vidarbha president of SSS, said PI Waydande had called Sable to take back his complain on Tuesday. “Sable to take back his complain on Tuesday. “Sable will not take back his complain on Tuesday. “Sable will not take back the complaint in any circumstance. It is disgusting that these four companies are among 42 authorized by the state government for Bt cotton. The agriculture officers may be claiming the bollworm attack is now under control after farmers followed their instructions of spraying but there is no decrease in pest attack. The crop condition has worsened,” he said. 


Superintending agriculture officer Anil Inge from Amravati division said that over 50 farmers in Warud taluka had come together against the seed companies. A team of officials headed by Taluka agriculture officer Ujjwal Agarkar inspected the farms. “The farmers were made to fill the G form and the department filed its report in H form. I form was filled and a suitable compensation amount was suggested which is expect to be paid by the seed company,” he said.



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