Firm repays farmer for faulty seeds

A farmer who complained to the consumer forum that he had not got even one quintal of cotton against the 15 to 20 promised was awarded a hefty compensation.

The farmer, Mr Gugulothu Bhadru, had purchased two packets of cotton seeds from Vasavi Fertilizers Depot and Ajeet Seeds for `1,500 on June 3, 2016.

Mr Bhadru told the forum that he had followed the procedure as stated by the firms, and applied pesticides and fertilisers costing `20,000 per acre. Only 30 per cent of the seeds germinated. He informed Vasavi Fertilizers and Ajeet Seeds, but they blamed other factors for the loss.

On January 27, 2017, agriculture officials inspected the fields and stated that the seeds were defective.

The outlets attributed the failure of crop to heavy rainfall and ineffective control measures to contain infestation. They denied assuring Mr Bhadru of a yield of 15 to 20 quintals per acre. They said the yield depended crop management, climatic conditions and application of fertilizers and pesticides.

The forum checked the records and found that rainfall was not in excess.

The seed packets did not have the incorporations to guide farmers as specified by the AP Cotton Seeds (Regulation of Supply, Distribution, Sale and Fixation of Sale Price) Act, 2007.

For deficiency of service, Vasavi Fertilizers and Ajeet Seeds were held liable to pay `1 lakh to Mr Bhadru, `20,000 per acre towards expenditure and `2,000 towards costs.