Seed crisis worries Patuakhali farmers

Severe seed crisis has made the aus paddy growers of the coastal district anxious, thanks to the negligence of Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC).

Farmers have to buy aus seed at Tk 60 to 70 per kg while BADC's rate is only Tk 36.  Due to this, the cultivation target may not be achieved.

Nesar Uddin of Kamarhowla village in Galachipa upazila said he cultivated watermelon on 23 acres of land this year at a cost of Tk 15 lakh but all the fields were totally damaged due to recent week-long heavy rainfall.

“Later, I cultivated aus paddy to recover the loss but I am very frustrated as I cannot buy the seed from BADC,” he said.

“I bought aus seed from BADC last year as it is of good quality and high productivity but I cannot buy it from the corporation this year as they have no seed,” he said.

BADC sells a kg of seed at Tk 36 only while non-governmental companies charged Tk 60 to 70 for it in local markets, said Nesar.

Like Nesar, a number of aus farmers of the district are facing serious crisis of seed, said local growers.

Seed trader Mojibur Rahman of Patuakhali town said, “I got only 500 kg of seed and it finished in two days. Many farmers come to buy BADC seed but we cannot fulfill their demands.”

They are selling seed of different companies to meet the local demand, he said.

Source at local Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said aus season started from March 15 and will end on June 15. DAE targeted cultivation of aus on 29,260 hectares of land this year.

To achieve the target, 733 tonnes of aus seed would be needed, said Md Nazrul Islam, deputy director of DAE in Patuakhali.

Md Asaduzzaman, deputy director of BADC (seeds), said “This year we got only 26 tonnes from the centre and of them, 23 tonnes were given to the government's revenue project free of cost.

Many farmers come to the office to buy aus seed but they cannot supply them due to the crisis, he said.