Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) spokesperson and former Balikuda MlA lalatendu Mohapatra has raised eyebrow on the State Government’s purchase of groundnut seeds to distribute among the farmers during the current year.
Mohapatra said the State Government had purchased 50,000 quintals of groundnut seeds from outside of the State in order to meet the demands of the farmers in the State.
Out of the total import, only 21,000 quintals were sold and huge quantities of seeds were left in the godown unsold. “If the Government did know about the demands of farmers, why it was purchasing a huge quantity of seeds by paying a lot of money from the State exchequer,” said Mohapatra, adding, “The State had also did the same mistake by purchasing 90,000 quintals of groundnut seeds.”
last year, he said, the State had purchased defective groundnut seeds as a result farmers got heavy loss. Without spending a lot of money, the State should create a safe source of seeds from its own like other State and should provide it in right time to the farmers, he added.