Rangpur Correspondent :
Farmers of 8 districts in Rangpur division are worried at the beginning of the Boro season owing to scarce supply of quality seeds while unscrupulous traders are marketing inferior seeds under different brand names, sources said.
As supply of quality seeds is in short supply and expensive, farmers are compelled to purchase mostly low quality seeds from other sources.
Sources of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Rangpur said that DAE had set a target to bring 0.86 million hectares of land in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts under Boro cultivation which is about 31,000 hectares higher than the previous year.
High yielding variety (HYV) paddy will be cultivated on 5,79,293 hectares of land, hybrid on 3,44,126 hectares local variety on 2,491 hectares.
DAE sources said that requirement of HYV paddy seeds on one hectare is 20 kg, whereas hybrid and local variety paddy in the same area are 15 kg and 30 kg respectively. Accordingly the demand of Boro seeds in 8 northern districts would be 14.5 thousand tonnes.
It is found that BADC supplied only about 4.05 thousand tonnes of Boro seeds which meets only 28 per cent of total demand in 8 districts of Rangpur division. Official price of a 10 kg bag of boro seed is fixed at Tk 330 to 350 depending on variety. But in most cases farmers are not getting their required variety of paddy seeds from BADC sales centres.
They alleged that they had to buy 10 kg bag of popular BRRI dhan 29 from seed dealers for Tk 450 to Tk 500.
While visiting some Upazilas of Rangpur district this The new nation correspondent found that Boro seeds were selling at high prices, kept in colourful bags in the names of different companies.
A 10 kg bag of Boro seeds of different companies other than that of BADC is selling at Tk 600 to 700 while a 2 kg bag of hybrid variety paddy, mostly imported from India, is being sold at Tk 240 to Tk 270.
Many farmers said that they have to return home empty handed from BADC sales centres as the supply of the seeds is much lower than the demand.
If the crisis of quality seeds continues, boro production will be seriously hampered, they added.
Farmers of 8 districts in Rangpur division are worried at the beginning of the Boro season owing to scarce supply of quality seeds while unscrupulous traders are marketing inferior seeds under different brand names, sources said.
As supply of quality seeds is in short supply and expensive, farmers are compelled to purchase mostly low quality seeds from other sources.
Sources of Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), Rangpur said that DAE had set a target to bring 0.86 million hectares of land in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts under Boro cultivation which is about 31,000 hectares higher than the previous year.
High yielding variety (HYV) paddy will be cultivated on 5,79,293 hectares of land, hybrid on 3,44,126 hectares local variety on 2,491 hectares.
DAE sources said that requirement of HYV paddy seeds on one hectare is 20 kg, whereas hybrid and local variety paddy in the same area are 15 kg and 30 kg respectively. Accordingly the demand of Boro seeds in 8 northern districts would be 14.5 thousand tonnes.
It is found that BADC supplied only about 4.05 thousand tonnes of Boro seeds which meets only 28 per cent of total demand in 8 districts of Rangpur division. Official price of a 10 kg bag of boro seed is fixed at Tk 330 to 350 depending on variety. But in most cases farmers are not getting their required variety of paddy seeds from BADC sales centres.
They alleged that they had to buy 10 kg bag of popular BRRI dhan 29 from seed dealers for Tk 450 to Tk 500.
While visiting some Upazilas of Rangpur district this The new nation correspondent found that Boro seeds were selling at high prices, kept in colourful bags in the names of different companies.
A 10 kg bag of Boro seeds of different companies other than that of BADC is selling at Tk 600 to 700 while a 2 kg bag of hybrid variety paddy, mostly imported from India, is being sold at Tk 240 to Tk 270.
Many farmers said that they have to return home empty handed from BADC sales centres as the supply of the seeds is much lower than the demand.
If the crisis of quality seeds continues, boro production will be seriously hampered, they added.
