Tirupati: The vigilance and enforcement unit of Tirupati has unearthed a scam worth Rs13.36 crore in the procurement of groundnut seed and distribution to farmers in Chittoor district.
According to vigilance SP P. V. Radha Krishna, the money meant for groundnut farmers has been siphoned off by middlemen.
Giving details, Mr Radha Krishna said that the state government supplies quality seeds of paddy, groundnut, sunflower, nava dhanyalu, etc., to farmers on subsidy through nodal agencies like the AP State Seed Development Corporation, AP Oil Federation, National Seed Corporation and WASSAN (an NGO), etc. The seeds have to be procured by the above nodal agencies which in turn engage private ‘seed organisers’ who supply the input seed (from which certified seed will be grown) to the selected farmers.
The nodal agencies with the help of seed organisers and AP State Seed Certification Agency (APSSCA) identify farmers willing to grow certified seed.
The fields of these farmers will be inspected by the seed certification officers three times during crop cultivation and then the seeds will be declared ‘Certified Seed’, depending on quality.
If the quality is approved, the seeds will be distributed to farmers on subsidy by the Agriculture Department, in order to increase productivity. The government bears the subsidy portion.
Mr Radha Krishna, who unearthed the scam, said that the Vigilance wing, Tirupati inquired into the details of procurement of groundnut seed in Chittoor district in rabi in 2017-18 which was distributed to farmers in kharif 2018.
As per the information furnished by the senior certification officer of APSSCA, Ongole, 2,998 farmers with 18,800 acres were registered for raising groundnut certified seed in Chittoor district. It is said that an approximate quantity of 1,20,964 quintals of groundnut seed was produced in Chittoor district during rabi 2017-18.
Vigilance obtained delivery challans of groundnut seed from the joint directors, agriculture departments of Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool and Anantapur.
As per these challans, 54,745 quintals of certified seed procured from the alleged identified farmers in rabi 2017-18 in Chittoor district was distributed to farmers in Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool and Anantapur for khariff 2018. The cost of seed to be paid to the seed organiser was Rs 61 per kg but it was supplied at Rs 36.60 per kg. The difference was Rs 13.36 crore.
The Vigilance report said that the subsidy amount was siphoned off by the seed organisers and others.
It not only swindled public money, but also affected the yield causing loss to the farmers.
The Vigilance sleuths spoke to 822 farmers in Chittoor district who sowed the seed in and got poor yield.
The report faulted the APSSSCA officials for not taking up proper inspections and said that this led to the scam.
