Bhubaneswar: The Odisha State Seed Corporation, which was set up to make the state self-sufficient in the field of seeds, has not been able to perform many of its functions properly. According to a review report by the CAG, the corporation has completely failed to set a production target under the Seed Efficiency Scheme of the Government of India. This is significantly lower than the target set for the production of 35.60 lakh quintals of seeds, i.e. only 20.35 lakh quintals of seeds by 2013-14. The lack of proven seed production and distribution has affected the state’s seed conversion rate. The installed capacity of the processing plant was underutilized every year due to insufficient production as per the target. As a result, 17.8 lakh quintals of seed processing was lost in the last five years at a cost of Rs 4.36 crore. The Department of Agriculture has failed to ensure the distribution of seeds. The corporation also did not make enough efforts for marketing. In 2013-14, the corporation lost Rs 71.60 crore by clearing 4.27 lakh quintals of low-quality seeds. As a result, 1.83 lakh tonnes of seeds had to be procured from foreign companies at a cost of Rs 13.03 crore. “There is no quality department in the corporation to determine the quality of the seed,” the CAG said in its report. As a result, the quality of the 2.36 lakh quintals of seeds could not be tested and they were declared low quality. Not only that, but the CAG has also found fault with the management of the corporation. From the 2015-16 financial year, the corporation’s annual accounts were outstanding. There was a shortage of programs on the board of directors and review committees. Internal review procedures were inappropriate and there were errors in labor management and other controls.
