Sale of PUSA 44 seeds banned by Punjab Govt

Tribune News Service

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, April 23

The state government has banned the sale of PUSA 44 variety with immediate effect.

The Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has instructed its field staff to ensure that no seed shops sell this variety in the state.

The ban comes following a story carried in the news columns of The Tribune on Monday, highlighting how the seeds were readily available in market, in spite of a ban imposed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in October 2023.

The reason why the government wanted to ban this variety is because it consumes high quantity of water, has a long duration of maturity and leaves high quantity of stubble after harvest, which is often burnt by farmers.

According to information, a virtual meeting was held by Jaswant Singh, Director, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, with the field staff, asking them to check all seed shops in their respective jurisdiction and ensure that no one sells this variety.

The field staff has also been instructed to create awareness among farmers against sowing this variety. All block-level officers have been asked to send certificates after checking the shops, saying that the variety is no longer being sold in the shops.

Farmers said the directions to ban the sale of PUSA 44 variety had come a bit late, as many farmers had already purchased it. Several farmers said they would use the seeds from the last year’s produce. The Tribune had reported that the seeds were not being sold at government run shops and Krishi Vigyan Kendras, but at private shops.

Meanwhile, owners of several rice shellers have been asking farmers to sow PUSA 44, instead of the PAU-recommended PR 126.

The millers complain that grain of PUSA 44 is much better than PR 126 (as its grain breaks during shelling and its outturn ratio of rice is less than government specified ratio of 67 per cent).

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