Smuggled jute seeds in
Jhenidah worry farmers
Jute cultivation may face a setback in Jhenidah district this year as farmers are purchasing Indian low quality seeds at high prices due to acute crisis of locally produced seeds in the sowing season.
A section of dishonest traders are supplying smuggled Indian substandard seeds to the market using names of different brands as Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) fails to supply adequate seeds for the farmers in the district, local seed dealers said.
A one kg-packet of Indian low quality seeds is selling between Tk 200 and Tk 250 whereas the government rate for BADC produced seeds is Tk 87.
There is a target to bring about 12,000 hectares of land under jute cultivation in six upazilas of Jhenidah this year, said sources at Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE).
Farmers will start sowing seeds in full swing within the next 10 days (from the last week of Falgun to the first week of Chaitra), and jute cultivation might exceed the target this season as farmers received fair price of it last year, DAE officials said.
But the farmers are likely to incur huge losses as the local markets have been flooded with substandard Indian jute seeds, the officials said.
When contacted, Khasruzzaman, senior additional director of local BADC office, told this correspondent that they earlier sent a letter to the head office in Dhaka seeking allocation of 1,500 kg jute seeds for Jhenidah but they are yet to receive any response.
A DAE official of Jhenidah, preferring anonymity, said jute plants on 1,000 hectares of land in six upazilas got damaged at a very early stage last year as the seeds were supplied from India.
"Failing to understand the quality of seeds, I sowed Indian seeds on two bighas of land last year and incurred a huge loss," Altaf Hossain of Enayetpur village under Kaliganj upazila said.
The Indian seeds are being smuggled into the district through different bordering areas in Sadar and Alamdanga upazilas of Chuadanga, local sources said.
Rashidul Hasan, a fertiliser dealer appointed by BADC in Shailkupa, said, "Now different companies are selling Indian low quality seeds in the local market. No companies other than BADC produce jute seeds locally in Bangladesh."
"BADC has appointed 90 seed dealers for Jhenidah but Indian substandard seeds are selling at different shops openly. If the government does not take necessary action immediately the farmers will be cheated again like the previous year and incur huge losses for sowing these low quality seeds," Nur Hossain, president of Jhenidah Seed Dealers Welfare Association, said.
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