MUZAFFARGARH, June 22: Poor quality and adulterated cotton seeds have caused heavy loss to farmers in Muzaffargarh, according to a Dawn survey.

Up to 25 per cent farmers had to sow their cotton crop twice because the seeds being supplied by local shopkeepers had a poor germination quality and were adulterated.

Progressive farmers said low quality seeds not caused them heavy loss but also delayed the cultivation of the crop which would again result in low production of the yield.

The last date for cotton cultivation in the district was June 2 but many farmers are still sowing the cotton crop.

Malik Sajid Husain, owner of the Budh Model Farm, said the cost of ploughing, irrigation, acid for removing lint from seed and drilling was Rs2,000 per acre. If a farmer had to sow the crop for a second time, he had to again irrigate and plough his land which delayed the cultivation for three weeks, he said.

He said he bought the seeds from a local shopkeeper and seed sacks had carried a certification stamp from the Punjab Seeds Corporation.

The district agriculture officer says there are 4,500 seed shops in the district which sell seeds illegally.

Dawn learnt most of these seed dealers buy cotton bales and gin seeds from them. They pack the seeds in sacks which carry fake stamps of certification of the government department.

District Agriculture Officer Jamshed Khalid Sandho said they had received a lot of complaints regarding the supply of low-germinated seeds in the district but had no power to take any action against dealers. He said power to check and regulate the seed trade had been transferred to the Federal Seed Certification Department (FSCD) since 1997. He said Chaudhry Liaqat of the FCSD had cracked down on seed shops in Muzaffargarh last month and seized adulterated seeds from them. He said the crack down remained incomplete because Mr Liaqat had hardly checked 300 shops when the news of the crack down spread in the district and thus other shopkeepers went underground.

The FSCD sends seized seeds to its laboratory in Multan. If the lab report is negative, the department sends chalan to court. Mr Sandho said the FSCD’s office was in Multan and it could not check the seed mafia in Muzaffargarh and other districts. He said he had got reports of sale of poor quality seed in the district and had informed Punjab Agriculture Secretary Fiaz Bashir and the president house about the illegal trade. He said his department had made teams to check the quality of pesticides.