The seed centre at Akambra Chowk of Bargarh is crippled with staff shortage.
The centre used to supply seed to five districts of western Odisha like Bargarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Deogarh and Sundargarh. More than 30,000 quintals of seeds worth Rs 7 crore are lying here unsold. The research unit of the centre has been lying useless due to lack of technical employees.
There are two seed centres in western Odisha such as Bargarh and Kalahandi. The seed centre of Bargarh having 30 acres of land and many heavy processing machines are left to rot as there is shortage of manpower to run the unit. Now only 15 employees are running the centre when 50 staff are required.
In the previous year, 1 lakh quintals of seeds were procured but 30,000 quintals were left unsold, said seed production officer Prasanta Kumar Mohanty.
The local farmers have demanded immediate steps to provide staff to the unit.