: As the sowing of paddy nursery officially began in Haryana from May 15, farmers are paying higher prices to buy high-yielding hybrid seeds.
The ground reports suggest that due to the lack of monitoring by the authorities, private companies are selling hybrid seed at high prices.
Even the prices of some high-yielding early maturing hybrid seeds have reached above ₹400 to ₹500 per kg and the average price of hybrid seed starts at ₹200 per kg.
As per dealers, this year farmers are not showing interest in traditional parmal varieties like PR 114, PR 113 and PR 126 which are available at the lower prices below ₹100 per kg but they are paying hefty prices to buy hybrid seeds like VNR 2111, 777, PR 126, PR 114, MP 3030, Sava 7501 and Sava 134.
“I have paid ₹11,200 to buy Hybrid 2111 seed for my seven acres. Last year, I purchased the same seed at ₹250 per kg but now the prices have gone up to ₹400,” said a farmer, Krishan Lal, after buying seed from a private dealer in Ladwa of Kurukshetra district.
Even farmers said that some seeds like Sava 7501 and Pusa 1847 (basmati) are out of stock and not available at any price. “We had limited stock of Sava 7501 and it was already sold out at ₹525 per kg. Now, farmers are ready to pay higher prices for it, but this seed is not available,” said a seed dealer in Indri of Karnal district.
{{/usCountry}}Even farmers said that some seeds like Sava 7501 and Pusa 1847 (basmati) are out of stock and not available at any price. “We had limited stock of Sava 7501 and it was already sold out at ₹525 per kg. Now, farmers are ready to pay higher prices for it, but this seed is not available,” said a seed dealer in Indri of Karnal district.
{{/usCountry}}About the reason behind shifting to hybrid seeds, farmers said that last year they suffered losses due to the attack of the southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV) or dwarfing disease in the traditional varieties, especially PR 113, PR 114 and NDR 359. This year, the farmers are focused on the varieties which were not affected by the dwarf virus.
“Last year, I had six acres under PR 114 and I had to suffer losses of around ₹20,000 per acre due to dwarfing disease. That is why this year I have purchased hybrid seed of MP 3030 at ₹300 per kg to avoid such losses,” said another farmer, Ishwar Singh.
Narhari Bangar, director, department of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, Haryana, said that the agriculture department does not have any regulation or monitoring on prices of seed fixed by private companies which fix the rates as per the quality.
“But we monitor the quality of seed as per the norms,” he added.