Poor germination of cotton seeds; 9 dealers lose licence

Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 1
Kuldeep Singh Chahal of Khiali Chahianwali village in Mansa is a dejected man. Having leased four acres for cotton cultivation, he was in for a shock when the seeds he bought and cultivated in April did not germinate. On May 5, he again bought fresh seeds and sowed them. To his utter dismay, he said, those seeds also did not germinate.

Cotton cultivation

• 99,720 hectares: Area under cotton cultivation this year
• 2L hectares: Target for bringing area under cotton cultivation this year
• 2.14L hectares: Area under cotton cultivation in 2023

Khudian's visit
Agriculture Minister Khudian will visit villages in Budhlada and Sardulgarh on Friday to assess the cotton crop and see if there are any instances of insect attack.

“I again bought the seeds and planted them in my field. Even the second batch of seeds did not germinate. As other cotton farmers came to know about it, they advised me to leave the field as it is rather than spending money on seeds again. I had to suffer a loss of Rs 80,000 on account of the lease money plus the cost of running tubewell on diesel. My only solace is that the seeds of a different brand used for cultivation did germinate,” he said.
Sadly, Kuldeep’s is not the only case where seeds did not germinate. As more farmers in villages of Mansa started complaining about the poor quality seeds, the state Agriculture Department took samples of seeds of nine companies from stores in Mansa last month. The results that came last week confirmed the worst fears of officials and farmers — the seeds had poor germination capability.
“We have cancelled the licences of nine dealers under the Seeds Act, 1966, and the Seeds Control Order, 1983, whose 11 samples of seeds showed poor germination,” confirmed a senior Agriculture Department officer.
Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian told The Tribune that he had already asked his officers not to spare anyone indulging in such practices. “Anyone found cheating farmers will be dealt with strictly. We have already issued show-cause notices to five seed companies that supplied these seeds,” he said.
Balkar Singh, another cotton farmer, rued that though the cotton growers had been complaining about the quality of seeds this year, no sampling was done to check their germination ability. “First, the plants were very scarce. A few seeds that did germinate had stunted growth. Had the sampling been done earlier, the farmers would have bought seeds of other companies and sown them. Farmers sowed the seeds twice, but there was no germination, thereby causing huge losses,” he rued.
The problem of stunted growth in cotton crop has been reported in some villages of Bathinda as well. However, officials in the state Agriculture Department said the problem there was a result of the deficit monsoon and related environmental factors. “But yes, this is also a cause for concern, as weak cotton plants are susceptible to insect attacks. We are hopeful of rain in the coming days, which will help the cotton crop,” said a senior officer in the department.