Agriculture Minister checks fertiliser shops,10 booked

Minister for Agriculture Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy conducted surprise checks on fertiliser and pesticide shops in Guntur on Saturday and directed the officials to register cases against 10 of them. He warned that the government will take stern action against the traders if they sell fake, spurious and unauthorised seeds to farmers.

While conducting inspection, he observed that unauthorised stocks of BG-3 variety cotton seeds  in the shops and warned shop owners not to sell them to farmers. He directed agriculture officials to collect samples from the traders and send them to labs for analysis for further action.

Chandramohan Reddy said the government seized 8,574 quintals of spurious seeds worth `6.24 crore in the State. He said the State government had banned Glyfoside toxic pesticide for six months due to heavy losses reported by farmers after using the pesticide in the fields. He said the banned pesticide stocks were being imported by dealers from Maharashtra and Gujarat and hence the government had directed the officials to take stern action against them.

He said he had issued orders to conduct proper verification of goods while exporting them and appreciated the collectors who were taking steps to ensure that quality products reach the market. The State government had purchased chilli, red gram, green gram, corn and other produce from farmers by spending `3,200 crore while the Central government had spent `1,120 crore. If Central government allocates more funds for welfare of farmers, the State government would spend more funds on farming. Agriculture Joint Director M Vijaya Bharati, officers Ramana Kumar, Hanumantha Rao, RDO V Srinivasa Rao and others were present.