Seed cos disappoint farmers

CHANDIGARH, Dec 4: Hundreds of Punjab and Haryana farmers visiting Agro Tech '98 India's foremost agri business fair in search of seeds t...

CHANDIGARH, Dec 4: Hundreds of Punjab and Haryana farmers visiting Agro Tech ’98 India’s foremost agri business fair in search of seeds to improve their productivity have been disappointed with the presence of only handful of Indian firms and the lack of new varieties. The multinational hybrid seed firms are missing completely, with only Pepsi Foods Limited — which in fact is not even a seed firm — informing the farmers about the improvement in productivity achieved by it through “bed farming”.

Half-a-dozen Indian seed companies from Hyderabad and Bangalore, which are mainly exhibiting their existing seed varieties, have attracted a large number of farmers but have failed to satisfy them. Naziveedu Seeds Ltd and Unicorn Seeds Limited are marketing hybrid cotton seeds promising 10 to 15 per cent higher yields and improved pest resistance. “We are offering our latest short-duration hybrid seed which we launched last year. It gives staple, ideal for spinning mills and fetches a higher price,” according to V. Sampath, regional manager (North) of Naziveedu Seeds of Andhra Pradesh.

The company is also offering its two hybrid sunflower seed varieties (NSF-81 and NSF-35), promising atleast 10 to 15 improvement in yields and better pest-resistance. “While NSF-81 with a maturity period of 80-85 days, is getting popular among the farmers in Punjab and Haryana due to unseasonal rains, NSF-35 has a longer maturity period of 90-95 days but it yields better grain and gains,” he added. Unicorn Seeds Ltd, which has a turnover of Rs 20 crore, is promising 15 to 20 higher yield in cotton and maize, with adequate protection against pest. Karnataka-based Namdhari Seeds, which is among the fastest growing seed companies, is offering new hybrid seed varieties for a number of vegetables with claims of much higher yields.

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“We have a number of new tomato varieties , which can give much better yield,” according to Rajesh Sharma of Namdhari Seeds. Maharastra Hybrid Seeds Company Ltd (Mahyco), which has a tie-up with multinational giant Monsanto, is in the farm show to promote its sprinklers. It has only put a few posters and brochures to publicise its seed business. Other seed firms have also failed to satisfy most farmers. Gurtej Singh Sandhu, who owns 40 acres in Gandhar (Muktsar), admitted that he did not know whether to believe these claims after having suffered successive crop failures.

“I have used hybrid cotton seeds in the last 3-4 years but have just not got adequate returns. Last year, I used Indo-American cotton seed but cotton dropped before picking and there were pests. I do not plan to grow cotton this year,” he added. Rajinder Kadian of Kurukshetra, was equally dissatisfied with the tomato seed varieties. However, he was impressed with Pepsi Foods Ltd, which is exhibiting implements and technologies used by it to grow tomato and chilly through contract farming.

H S Sohi, general manager (agro), Pepsi said the company had decided to release seeds to selected farmers after it received hundreds of similar requests in the last three days.