Following the reports that newly-introduced heat-tolerant PBW 826 wheat variety seemingly made its way to seed stores across Ludhiana and nearby districts at premium costs despite the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) having officially exhausted the initial stock of the award-winning variety, the agriculture department swung into action and carried out surprise inspections at seed stores and godowns across the city and collected 22 samples of wheat seeds for lab tests.
The agricultural department team has also confiscated pamphlets being distributed by seed store owners located outside PAU gate number 1, claiming the availability of the PBW 826 variety for ₹150 per kg.
Chief agricultural officer Amanjeet Singh said, “We have received a complaint from PAU regarding the sale of PBW 826 seed and our teams are conducting inspections and have collected 24 stemples in the past two days. Pamphlets mentioning PBW 826 found at two seed shops opposite to PAU gate number 1 were also confiscated. Further checking is underway, but no seed stock of PBW 826 has been found yet.”
Singh said the confiscated wheat seed would be sent to the lab for quality and germination test.
Notably, the varsity had sold the seed at ₹100 per kg at its recent Kisan Mela with a cap of 2 kg seeds per farmer after verifying Aadhar Card, ensuring the seed did not land in the hands of private companies.
Director seed, PAU, Rajinder Singh said the varsity has developed only 1,000 quintals of the seed and exhausted a large chunk at the Kisan Melas itself.
“The seed has been introduced this year and could not be multiplied within a year. Farmers were advised not to purchase uncertified products at premium and we have flagged the issue with the agriculture department,” he added.
Not the first case
Notably, a similar situation had been witnessed in May 2020 when the vigilance team had confiscated paddy PB 128, 129 seeds developed by PAU that year after reports of it being illegally sold at private shops.
What is PBW 826?
Desirable for its heat-tolerant qualities, the PBW 826 wheet seed variety was introduced by the agricultural university in August after four years of clinical and field trials. The new variety had witnessed 31% and 17% higher yield than HD 3086 and HD 2967 varieties, respectively.