Around fifty farmers in one area of Joypurhat have suffered losses after planting potato seed from the private company BRAC Seed. Farmers in Dharki area of Sadar upazila are in serious trouble because the seed, bought at a high price, has not sprouted in 20-25 days. Most of the fields lie bare. The farmers say they have suffered heavy losses this season and are demanding legal action by the administration against BRAC Seed.

The BRAC Courage variety potatoes planted by about 35 farmers of Dharki village have not sprouted, among them Firoz Hossain on about 2 bighas, Ashraf Ali on 3 bighas, Munjurul on 3 bighas, Erfan Ali on 1 bigha and Farid Akanda on 2 bighas. A plant or two has come up here and there, but the fields are otherwise empty. They had bought about Tk 12 lakh worth of Courage seed potatoes from several seed traders, including BRAC Seed dealer Golam Rabbani of Joypurhat Sadar, Osman of Khetlal, and local traders Mehedi Hasan and Muktar Hossain. They planted it on about 60 bighas 20-25 days ago, but not even 10 per cent has sprouted.

The affected farmers said they have spent about Tk 32,000-35,000 a bigha so far, and fear they will not get even 10 maunds of potatoes.

Dharki farmer Bajlu Mia (48) said he bought 15 sacks of BRAC Courage potatoes from Sadar upazila BRAC Seed dealer Golam Rabbani and planted them on 3 bighas, but not even a quarter of the plants came up.

He said he had spent about Tk 1 lakh on the three bighas. Had the potatoes done well, he would have made a profit of about Tk 2 lakh; now he faces a loss of Tk 2-2.5 lakh.

BRAC Seed dealer Golam Rabbani told Jagonews24 that the problem was the farmers' fault, caused by the potato fields being too damp. He said they bore no responsibility and that the company had been informed after he learned of the matter.

Asked about it, BRAC territory manager Zahurul Islam told Jagonews24 that the potatoes rotted because of the farmers' mistake, as they had planted them in wet soil.

Joypurhat Sadar upazila nirbahi officer Aminul Islam told Jagonews24 that he had received a complaint from the farmers and had already asked the agriculture officer to take action.

Joypurhat Sadar upazila agriculture officer Rafsia Jahan told Jagonews24 that after receiving the complaint they were looking into it on the spot, and action would be taken after an investigation.

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