New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday asserted that the country has an adequate supply of seeds and agro-chemicals for the upcoming Kharif season, and asked states to check hoarding, black marketing, smuggling and diversion of fertilisers for non-farm usage.
Addressing an inter-ministerial briefing on recent developments in West Asia, Maninder Kaur Dwivedi, Additional Secretary in the Agriculture Ministry, said, “The most important input is seeds. There is an adequate availability of seeds for the upcoming Kharif (summer-sown) sowing season”.
She said the total estimated requirement of seeds for the Kharif 2026 is 166.46 lakh quintals, while the availability is 185.74 lakh tonnes. So, there is a surplus of 19.29 lakh tonnes.
Dwivedi noted that there is enough supply of seeds for all major crops.
She said the total availability of seeds for paddy crop is 80.9 lakh quintals, soyabean 35.7 lakh quintals, groundnut 21.1 lakh quintals, and maize 11.9 lakh quintals.
The availability of seeds is sufficient across all states, Dwivedi said.
“Looking forward to the upcoming Kharif season, as well as Rabi season, as far as seeds are concerned, we are in a comfortable position,” she told reporters here.
On fertiliser stocks, Dwivedi said the total requirement of fertilisers for the Kharif season is estimated at 390.54 lakh tonnes. The opening stock is 180 lakh tonnes, which is 46 per cent of the total requirement.
“The opening stock is a fairly good quantity,” she said.
Dwivedi informed that the agriculture and fertilisers secretaries held a meeting with the state secretaries on March 30 to assess the situation. In the meeting, states were asked to ensure the last-mile availability of key inputs.
“States were also requested to take up a special drive so that there is no hoarding, black marketing, cross-border smuggling, diversion of fertilisers to non-agriculture usage,” the Additional Secretary told reporters.
Regarding agro-chemicals, Dwivedi said there is sufficient quantity available.
On prices, she said the wholesale prices are being monitored, and they are in the normal range as they have been in the past few years.
Rates of tomatoes, potatoes and onions are in range and showing slight improvement, Dwivedi said.
The West Asia crisis, which has been going on since February 28, has severely impacted the supply of gas and oil.
