Seeding hope of a good yield with epic names
June 16, 2021
Seed brands with fictional film characters like Baahubali and Katappa are flooding the market
Faith can move mountains they say. And also seed hope. Paddy and onion farmers in Maharashtra, crippled by the lockdown, unseasonal rains and rising cultivation costs, are buying seeds called Baahubali, Kattapa, Sivagami, Bhima and Durga in the hope of a good kharif season ahead.
As kharif sowing gains momentum in the State, seed brands in the name of mythological characters and fictional film characters have flooded the market. Farmers are picking these up hoping they yield a bumper crop.
Highest HTBT cotton sowing in coming kharif: Shetkari Sanghatana
April 06, 2021
Shetkari Sanghatana (SS), the apex farmers’ body in Maharashtra, has claimed that 50 per cent of cotton sown in the State in the coming kharif season will be herbicide-tolerant Bt (HTBT) cotton, the cultivation of which is banned in India.
In 2020 kharif, about 42. 86 lakh hectare in Maharashtra was under cotton cultivation, that is 29 per cent of the total land under kharif cultivation in the State; .25-35 per cent of the cotton fields in the State have reportedly been put under HTBT cultivation in the last few seasons.
“The movement for HTBT cotton that started in 2019 has gained momentum and now farmers are cultivating more and more HTBT cotton. This kharif, 50 per cent cotton grown in the State will be HTBT. Now, we don’t have to launch a programme or movement to encourage farmers to grow HTBT. Farmers themselves are now inclined towards HTBT,” said Anil Ghanwat, president of SS, told