Agri Department accused of distributing un-notified seeds
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, June 27 2025: The Department of Agriculture reportedly distributed un-notified local seeds during a recent distribution of high yielding variety (HYV) paddy seed in violation of Section 7 of Seeds Act 1966, as per complaints.

In this regard, farmers have questioned the rationale for the Department's act of doing things despite the prohibition.

In accordance with a notification issued by the Agri culture Department on June 11, HYV paddy seeds were distributed to farmers of different districts from June 16 to 26 .

The notification stated that the HYV seeds (RCM12, RCM13, RCM 15 and RCM 16) were distributed to farmers at Rs 6 per kg, at the rate of 60kg per hectare.

These HYV seeds, proven to extremely beneficial to farmers who have never planted the said varieties, are to be distributed after field verification by the district agriculture officers concerned.

However, according to the farmers who conveyed their complaints to this daily, the Agriculture Department, instead of distributing the HYV seeds, supplied local un-notified variety seeds such as Drum, Thoibi, Priya, Kethabi and Thangjing.

When the farmers questioned the distribution of un-notified seeds, they were informed that the HYV seeds were not in stock and as such, the Department urged the farmers to accept the local seeds.

According to the Seeds Act, 1966, un-notified variety of paddy seeds cannot be sold.

As per Section 7 of the Act, if any person or authority is found selling un-notified seeds to farmers, a PIL could be filed against them.

In addition, they either are liable for a fine or serve jail time.

However, the question is why the Agriculture Department is distributing un-notified seeds in violation of the law.

In this regard, one farmer said that the Department had been distributing HYV seeds annually and crores of rupees had been allocated in the budget for the same.

As such, there is suspicion of foul play in the matter, considering the response is that the HYV seeds are not in stock.

If there was truly no stock left, why did the Department fail to procure the same from the National Seed Corporation and instead distributed un-notified local seeds, questioned the farmer.

Reiterating that a government department is not allowed to distribute un-notified seeds to farmers, the farmer stated that this is in violation of the quality control and standard provisions as specified under Seed Act, 1966 .

This would not only hinder the farmers from increasing the yield, but also destroy the trust of the people.

As such, the farmer urged the authority concerned to look into the matter.

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