Thanks Mayank for alert.
Here is the news item from the google cache copy pasted here for ease of others.
Vijayawada: Cotton farmers in Krishna district have allegedly been duped by a private seed company, by supplying low quality cotton seeds. They have taken up cultivation in the upland villages of Jaggaiahpet, Nandigama, Mylavaram and Tiruvur Assembly segments.
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Farmers are worst hit, with the crop failing on two counts—series of cyclones and rain and spurious seeds.
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They opted for the âJadooâ variety seeds of Kaveri Seed Company this year, following its wide publicity, claiming high yield.
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The company had hired several film actors to promote âJadooâ with promises of high yield. While it doubled the market share from five per cent in 2011-12 to ten per cent in 2012-13, along with its other popular brand âJackpotâ, farmers in the district allege that their loss was twice the annual return. According to unofficial sources, farmers used the âJadooâ variety in more than 300 acres, 150 acres in Mylavaram and Tiruvur and the same area in Jaggaiahpet and Nandigama segments.
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They say the crop developed moisture and lost colour in hundreds of acres, resulting heavy loss to them. They had invested around Rs 25,000-30,000 per acre and lost almost everything.
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Farmers in Kanchikacharla mandal of Nandigama, A Kondur mandal of Tiruvur and G Kondur mandals of Mylavaram are worst hit, by crop failure.
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They accuse the company of supplying spurious seeds, resulting in heavy loss. Farmers are getting ready for a show-down with the company, whose representatives did not even care to visit them despite repeated requests.
The TV link seems to be in Telugu, so couldn’t make out anything from it. Could you or someone who understands Telugu produce a summary of the issue. Is it reporting same things as the above print article ?
@Mahesh, You are one of vp’s respected expert on agro sector (partly my impression from pi & Dhanuka thread) but strangely i haven’t found you very active on Kaveri thread. Not sure what could be the reason? 
What’s your takeaway from the above incident? i can understand crop failure due to factors like cyclone, excess rains etc…but how far can it be linked to spurious seeds ?
I think we are entering cotton harvest season now, so can we expect similar claims from other areas too which had excess rains ?
Actually in summary I am asking views from knowledgeable people in this area about: does this issue has potential to spread like wildfire and cause damage to Kaveri’s business in the following year, or is it a routine matter even with other seeds and not to be taken very seriously ?
