Mumbai, July 15: The Maharashtra government will formulate a comprehensive policy to ensure that farmers receive high-quality seeds, prevent losses caused by substandard or counterfeit seeds, and bring greater transparency and accountability to seed production, storage, testing, and marketing, Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharane announced on Tuesday.
He was speaking at a meeting held at Mantralaya to discuss revising the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for seed inspection and accountability. Minister of State Adv. Ashish Jaiswal, MLAs Bhaskar Jadhav, Kailas Ghadge Patil, Hemant Ogale, Harish Pimpale, Sumit Wankhede, Randhir Savarkar, Sameer Kunawar, Rajesh Bakane, Sai Prakash Dahake, Agriculture Secretary Parimal Singh, Agriculture Commissioner Suraj Mandhare, Mahabeej Managing Director Dr. Dileep Swami, Agriculture Director Sunil Borikar, Deputy Secretary Santosh Karad, and other senior officials attended the meeting.
Bharane said the government’s objective is to strengthen accountability in seed quality, enhance farmers’ confidence, and improve every stage of the seed supply chain. The proposed policy will include effective use of the Sathi Portal, QR code-based seed traceability, verification of source seeds, registration of private processing centres, mandatory submission of samples to government laboratories, faster testing of samples, transparent testing through e-lab and coding systems, adoption of modern methods such as Grow-Out Tests, and stricter scrutiny of seeds imported from other states.
The Agriculture Minister added that the new policy will also focus on prompt action on farmers’ complaints related to seeds, greater transparency in inspection procedures, stronger quality control mechanisms, and legal and administrative measures to prevent losses caused by poor-quality seeds. He said the final policy would be prepared after studying suggestions and recommendations received from all stakeholders, with farmers’ interests remaining the government’s highest priority.
