Ministry of Agriculture issues alert on unsolicited seed packages from China

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has issued an alert to state organisations and agencies which come under the umbrella of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) regarding unsolicited seed packages that may be delivered to their office.

The notification has come after reports of seed packages being delivered to the US and Canada from China was reported. The US Department of Agriculture in a report shared on August 6 has said that acts like this can be an attempt to destroy the biodiversity of a country.

The story started when several people in the US and Canada began receiving seed packages from China, the US Department of Agriculture immediately issued an alert urging recipients not to plant these seeds. This is a serious issue as tensions between the US and China is simmering and is considered to be at their lowest.

India’s relations with China have also plummeted since the recent Galwan clashes and thus the urgency from the Indian agencies to sound an alert. Experts say the seeds can be used as a weapon to destroy native species of a place but also say that the efficacy of these seeds is not as huge as it is being told.

Experts also say that these are claims and the seeds have not been analysed yet and agencies in the US are conducting tests to determine whether the claims are true or not.