Agriculture Department cracks down on unapproved HTBt cotton seeds Staff Reporter : This season the quality control team of the department has seized unapproved HTBt cotton seeds worth Rs 1.90 crore till June 9 However Shetkari Sanghatana to continue with disobedience movement and facilitate provision of HTBt cotton seeds to willing farmers Even as the farmers are busy with Kharif season agricultural activities Agriculture Department has started crack down against unapproved herbicide-tolerant (HT) Bt cotton seeds across Maharashtra. And while the action is being taken against HTBt cotton seeds Shetkari Sanghatana has announced that it will facilitate provision of the seeds to farmers at their doorstep as part of its disobedience movement. As per the official data Quality Control Squad of State Agriculture Department has seized unapproved HTBt cotton seeds as well as Soyabean Gram and Tur grains being sold as seeds in an unauthorised manner and registered total 19 police cases in this regard in various parts of Maharashtra. Of these 19 cases 18 relate to unapproved HTBt cotton seeds. The cases relating to cotton have been registered in Nagpur Yavatmal Chandrapur Gadchiroli Washim Amravati Dhule Jalgaon and Nandurbar districts. In above-mentioned six districts of Vidarbha region alone 11 of these cases about unapproved HTBt seeds have been registered. Of these 11 three each are in Nagpur and Yavatmal districts two each in Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts and one each in Amravati and Washim districts. Of the total stock of unapproved HTBt cotton seeds seized the highest 11110 packets were seized in Saoner tehsil of Nagpur district followed by 2270 packets in Aheri tehsil of Gadchiroli district and 1600 packets in Chandrapur city. The total estimated worth of the HTBt cotton seeds seized in the State up to June 9 is Rs 19077000/. Apart from the HTBt cotton seeds the departments squad seized 6191 quintals of Soyabean Gram and Tur grains being sold as seeds in an unauthorised manner at Darwha in Yavatmal district on June 5. This seized stock has been estimated to be worth Rs 4.1992 crore. HTBt cotton seeds has been a matter of debate for the past some time. Narendra Singh Tomar Union Agricultue Minister had informed the Lok Sabha in reply to a starred question that “they (HT cotton seeds) are not approved for use in the country.” Then he had stated that incidents of sale of HT cotton seeds had been reported from Maharashtra Gujarat and Telangana. As per the information given by him to the Lok Sabha then “illegal HT cotton seeds were seized in the districts of Nagpur Chandrapur Parbhani Nandurbar Yavatmal and Gadchiroli. Total of 9387 illegal cotton seed packets and 1087 kg loose cotton seeds valued at Rs 102.87 Lakh was confiscated. Further 20 FIRs have been filed against the culprits in the respective police stations.” In 2019 Lalit Patil Bahale President of Shetkari Sanghatana was booked for openly sowing unapproved HTBt cotton seeds. “I sowed the seeds as part of disobedience agitation. The case is yet to come on board before the court of law. This year also we have declared to sow HTBt seeds” he said while talking to The Hitavada over telephone. According to him already 26-30 per cent of the cotton area in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions has been covered under HTBt cotton as the farmers are finding it profitable for them. Now he said time has come for the States and Centre to accept the newer technologies and let the farmers exercise their choice of market and technology. Interestingly even as the action is being taken against HTBt cotton seeds in Maharashtra Bahale said that Shetkari Sanghatana would be facilitating the provision of seeds to willing farmers. “We will be releasing some phone numbers on social media soon. The farmers who wish to sow HTBt cotton should upload 7/12 extract and demand for bags on the said numbers. We will facilitate provision of these seeds at their doorstep. This is part of disobedience movement we have started. The disobedience movement is also an attempt at scientific trials outside the official institutional setup. We are maintaining proper records in a scientific manner” he added.

Stay updated with all the Latest Nagpur headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.