283 convicted and imprisoned for selling substandard quality pesticides and agri-inputs

Agrarian community in Haryana is already crawling on several fronts for years and despite the repeated efforts and their hard work, the financial conditions of the farmers remain the same. Amidst this, the incidents of selling of low quality seeds, pesticides and fertilizers to farmers continue to surface which puts financial burden on the pocket of already debt-ridden farmers. It has been found that the low quality seeds, fertilizers and pesticides would have caused immense loss to the farmers already struggling on several fronts. In this row, to tighten the noose around the neck of defaulters, the agriculture department has raided shops and godowns where fake pesticides and agricultural inputs of substandard quality were manufactured and seized a huge amount of illegal substances.

The department has taken action in various ways against those involved in adulteration of fertilizers, seeds and pesticides. During a period of 8 years from 2015-16 to 2022-23, taking action, FIR’s have also been lodged by the department against defaulters involved in the sale of fertilizers, seeds and pesticides of poor quality. A total of 283 people have been found guilty and sentenced in Haryana during the above period.Notably, a total of 104 people have been found guilty of keeping or selling poor quality fertilizer and have been punished. At the same time, the business of adulteration in pesticides is at its peak.

Of total 283 adulterators, 132 were found guilty of adulteration only in pesticides and due to this, FIR’s were lodged against them and were put behind bars Apart from this, 47 people selling agricultural products were found guilty of possessing or selling seeds of substandard quality or both and were later sent to jail. Action was taken against 27 adulterators in the year 2015-16 and 14 in 2016-17. After this, action was taken against 23 people in the year 2017-18, 33 in 2018-19, 74 in 2019-20, 48 in 2020-21, 41 in 2021-22 and 23 in 2022-23 respectively

It is pertinent to mention that as many as 1006 samples of fertilizers, pesticides and seeds given to the farmers from 2015-16 to 2021-22 found to be of substandard quality. On an average, more than 165 samples of above agri-goods were reported of lower quality. Out of the total samples found substandard, 423 fertilizers failed to meet the parameters, followed by 431 and 150 substandard samples of pesticides and seeds, respectively.

The data also revealed that either penalty had been imposed on 96 defaulters or sentenced imprisonment or both for their involvement for non-compliance of norms as they were found selling substandard products. The department concerned has set a target of taking samples of fertilizers, pesticides and seeds to tighten the noose around the neck of defaulters and ensure the compliance of norms. The acute shortage of the fertilizer in Haryana has been an issue during the recent Rabi season which also led to annoy the farmers across the state. Long queues of farmers sitting outside fertilizer stores were reported in the state.

A senior farmer leader said: “First, the farmers continue to face an acute shortage of fertilizer and moreover, now the cases of poor quality of pesticides, seeds and fertilizer have surfaced. Apart from this, hailstorm and unseasonal rain caused a huge loss to the standing crop in the state and compensation for the same is still unpaid on the part of the government.” Apart from this, the lower quality of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides result in poor quality of grain which affects the health of people.

The data also depicted that despite the tall claims, the department failed to collect samples of fertilizers, seeds and pesticide as per expectations and expectations are not meeting the quality of seeds, pesticides and fertilizers to the standards requiring the departmental officials to come up with maximum and timely collections of the samples.