Is compensation in the form of BC15 rice seeds appropriate?
Recently, Hanoi City Police discovered and seized over 1 ton of counterfeit BC15 rice seeds. This is not the first time, as over a year ago, Hanoi City Police also discovered over 3 tons of counterfeit BC15 rice seeds at a rice seed business in the area. The information reported by VTV1 gives us much to think about.
(Baonghean)Recently, Hanoi City Police discovered and seized over 1 ton of counterfeit BC15 rice seeds. This is not the first time, as over a year ago, Hanoi City Police also discovered over 3 tons of counterfeit BC15 rice seeds at a rice seed business in the area. The information reported by VTV1 gives us much to think about.
The BC15 rice variety has been counterfeited (a rare occurrence in the rice seed business), and despite the discovery being made a long time ago, Thai Binh Seed Company has not implemented any measures to combat counterfeiting and protect its brand. The question remains: were there counterfeit seeds among the batches supplied to farmers in Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces? This is a question of public concern that has yet to be answered. On the other hand, some believe this information was released to "appease" public opinion regarding the widespread crop failure of the BC15 rice variety during the recent winter-spring season.
Recently, Thai Binh Seed Company provided Nghe An province with 250 tons of BC15 rice seeds (150 tons for the 2013 summer-autumn crop and 150 tons for the 2014 winter-spring crop) to compensate for losses suffered by farmers. In our opinion, providing seeds as support is insufficient; financial assistance is necessary. Seed support leaves farmers with no other choice, almost forcing them to continue using the company's seeds. If unfavorable weather conditions occur again this summer-autumn and next winter-spring seasons, resulting in crop failure with the BC15 variety, it would be extremely dangerous.
On the other hand, local authorities need to advise farmers against using the BC15 variety for two reasons: counterfeit varieties have been detected, and this rice variety is too sensitive to weather conditions.
PV