The availability of certified/quality seeds for Kharif 2017 is 176.26 lakh quintals against the requirement of 154.69 lakh quintals in the country and there is no shortage of quality pesticides in the country as reported by the States. 

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the State Agricultural Universities are conducting research and high yielding varieties are being developed for the benefit of farmers. During the year 2016, a total of 308 varieties have been developed and released. The details are, in Cerelas 153 varieties, Pulses 43 varieties, Oilseeds 50 varieties, in Fibre crops 33 varieties, in Forage 20 varieties and in Sugar crops 9 varieties. 

The Government provides assistance under various crop development programmes/Schemes for seed related activities to make quality seeds available to the farmers at reasonable prices. The quality of pesticides is monitored by the insecticide inspectors of Central (182) and State Government (13403) respectively through inspection of manufacturing, storage, sale points etc, draw samples of pesticides, analyze with the help of notified pesticide analysts,. Prosecution is initiated in case of violation of the provisions of insecticide Act, 1968. 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Parshottam Rupala, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today. 
 

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