Seed sellers and distributors have been thrown off guard by a recent notification issued by the Central government, which mandates printing of QR codes as well as printed literature inside seed packets for the upcoming kharif season. With seed packets already shipped out, seed companies as well as dealers say the circular dated April 11 has been issued too late and needs to be relooked. The circular, signed by Dilip Kumar Srivastava, Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture and Famer’s Welfare Department, said “all seed selling agencies/companies are required to include a QR code on every seed packet, which links to information on the recommended package of practices in vernacular languages. In addition, a printed copy of this information must also be provided with the seed packet.” The circular has exempted packets that have 100 grams of seeds or less from the printed copy, but the QR code has to be included. Ajeet Mulay, managing director of Green Golds Seeds, a major seed player in the business, said while there is no problem in inserting both the …