Problem

Thousands of seed, fertiliser and pesticide samples fail quality tests each year

National
State

In 2023-24, state inspectors found 3,630 of 1,33,588 seed samples sub-standard (about 2.7 per cent), 8,988 of 1,81,153 fertiliser samples non-standard (about 5.0 per cent) and 2,222 of 80,789 pesticide samples spurious (about 2.8 per cent), the Ministry of Agriculture told the Lok Sabha in February 2025. Samples are drawn by inspectors, so these are failure rates among tested products rather than a measure of how much sub-standard input reaches farmers. Evidence confidence: High for the counts.

1 sub-problem within this

Seed and pesticide quality is still regulated under laws from the 1960s
The Ministry of Agriculture's February 2025 reply cited the Seeds Act, 1966, the Seeds Rules, 1968, the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983 and the insecticides law as the basis for acting against spurious inputs. The Pesticide Management Bill, 2020, introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 23 March 2020 to replace the Insecticides Act, 1968, and the Draft Seeds Bill, 2019 had not replaced those laws as of that reply. Evidence confidence: High that the older laws were in force in February 2025; the status of any later draft is not established here.

Who is responsible

State Agriculture Departments · State GovernmentAppoint the inspectors who draw and test samples, and act on failures.
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare — Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare · Ministry or Department

Evidence and sources

Spurious Seeds, Pesticides and Fertilizers Supplied to the Farmers — reply in Lok Sabha · Official statementMinistry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, 11 February 2025. Samples drawn and found sub-standard, non-standard or spurious in 2023-24, and the laws under which action is taken.

Do you support action on this problem?

1 sub-problem within this

Seed and pesticide quality is still regulated under laws from the 1960s

Who is responsible

Evidence and sources