Farmers in Chitwan are worried. The harvesting season is almost here, but the paddy stalks in their fields have failed to yield anything.

According to them, the hybrid variety of the paddy named Garima which they had planted has failed to produce any grains even though the plants had grown smoothly.

They have demanded compensation and urged the concerned authority to take action against the authorised dealer of the hybrid seeds, claiming they have been cheated. The farmers had planted the hybrid sees hoping they would reap a good harvest.

“We had a plan to cultivate potatoes after harvesting the paddy in mid-October. But the plants have not yielded grains yet,” said Krishna Aryal, a farmer in Kharkhutte Kathar, Khairahani Municipality. Farmers like Aryal have been cultivating Garima paddy seeds for the last four years.

Prasant Agrovet is the authorised dealer of the seeds in Chitwan. According to Pradip Pathak, operator of the Agrovet, he sold 13,404 kg of Garima seeds this year. “We have sold genuine seeds,” claimed Pathak.

Farmers, however, claim that they have been sold fake seeds. To ensure they are justly compensated, they have also met with Dawa Dorje Lama, Minister for Agriculture in the province, and demanded authorities take action against the dealer who sold them the fake seeds, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in Bharatpur sent samples of the seeds to the Seed Quality Control Centre in Hariharbhawan in Lalitpur for a lab test on September 23. Rajan Dhakal, chief at the Agriculture Knowledge Centre in Bharatpur, said they are awaiting results of the lab test.

Dhakal said, “We have requested farmers to wait for 15 to 20 days.”