"Oh father, I used to get 100 maunds of paddy from one and a half acres. Now I won't get even one maund. It has completely killed us. What will we eat this time? And what will we farm with next? My head has gone bad with worry. This bad state is because of adulterated paddy seed. And the agriculture officer doesn't come this way. He turns back from the paved road."

So said an angry Abdul Azad, a farmer from Chatal Bandhabhatpar village in Sadar union of Jhenaigati upazila, Sherpur.

Some 300-odd farmers in the upazila are in the same position. Farmers in Sadar and Nalkura and several neighbouring unions of Jhenaigati allege they have suffered losses after planting adulterated seed sold in BRRI dhan96 packets.

The affected farmers allege that this Boro season, fake seed was sold to them in packets of high-yielding BRRI dhan96 seed under the name of Miron Seed Company of Madhupur, from Messrs Nurul Enterprise and Messrs Sabbir Bij Bhandar at Jhenaigati bazar. They have already submitted a written complaint seeking redress to Farhad Hossain, the upazila agriculture officer.

In Dighirpar, Ahammad Nagar, Chatal, Bandhabhatpar and Ramnagar in Jhenaigati Sadar union, the paddy grown from the BRRI dhan96 seed should be heading by now, but in many fields no ears have come and the crop has started to rot. Where ears have appeared on this variety, the leaves and stems have rotted and died. Those fields will give no paddy and not even straw. Many farmers who took loans to farm are in trouble.

The farmers also complain that the agriculture department has not stood by them. They say the agriculture officer comes as far as the paved road and turns back, and does not come this way because of the mud. They say they brought many pesticides from shops and applied them, with no result.

They add that they spent around Tk 40,000 to Tk 45,000 an acre, and without government help it will now be hard to put rice on the table for their families.

Abdul Hoque of Rangtia Mor in Jhenaigati said: "I planted the 96 variety on 14 kathas of land. Now it's ruined. When I go to the field my head spins."

Sohel Rana of Ramnagar said his brother and uncle had planted the 96 variety. "The paddy on the whole land has been destroyed. Not even one maund will come. They farmed on loans; how will they repay them now? So government help is urgent."

Suruj Zaman, 60, of Bandhabhatpar said: "I went to the shop and asked what kind of paddy seed they had given. They said new ears would come out in 15 days. I have spent my life farming, and they fob me off. I want proper justice."

Arshadul Haque, a farmer of Dighirpar village, said he bought BRRI dhan96 seed and planted 75 decimals of land at a cost of about Tk 35,000. "It is time for the paddy to come, but instead the crop is being ruined."

Admitting the complaint, Md Nurul Amin, owner of Messrs Nurul Enterprise, said he had been in the seed business since the 1990s and had never received a single complaint like this before; this was the first time. He said the 96 variety seed had been supplied to him by Miron Seed Company of Madhupur, Tangail, and that he had complained to the company about the damage. He said he had also visited the fields, and that everyone who took seed from him was known to him and in one way or another a relative.

Md Shahidullah, owner of Sabbir Bij Bhandar, could not be found at the shop.

Sakhawat Hossain, deputy director of the district agriculture department, told Jago News that complaints had been received about hybrid BRRI-96 seed paddy in Jhenaigati, including written complaints from affected farmers. A field-level investigation is under way, and those involved in producing, transporting and selling the seed will also be investigated, he said. Higher authorities have been informed.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.