Farmers in Meherpur Sadar have alleged that upazila agriculture officer Monirujjaman embezzled money meant for their agricultural demonstration plots. Without telling farmers the actual allocation, the project was shown as implemented with only token support. Farmers say the fertiliser, pesticide and money they received from the agriculture office covered only a small part of the cost of the plots.

New high-yielding varieties of food crops are being developed in agricultural research laboratories with government support, with the aim of self-sufficiency in food. The agricultural extension department gives farmers hands-on training in growing these varieties. To put the training into practice, farmers are given financial help to set up demonstration farms for the relevant crops. Depending on the crop, a demonstration farm is 50 decimals, 33 decimals or 2.47 decimals. Costs of seed, various fertilisers, crop care, transport, seed storage and related items are provided, at rates that vary by crop.

But farmers allege that Meherpur Sadar upazila agriculture officer Monirujjaman has embezzled government money given for setting up demonstration plots through various tricks.

Farmer Nasir Hossain of Harirampur village in Meherpur Sadar upazila received a demonstration plot for dragon fruit from the Sadar upazila Department of Agricultural Extension this year. The total help he received was a tiny fraction of the actual cost. In this way, farmers are being cheated of their due by being given nominal costs for demonstration plots of various crops.

According to a confidential source, the allocation for a farmer's dragon fruit plot is Tk 30,800. Yet Nasir Hossain received 5 kg of DAP, 25 kg of MoP, 2 kg of zinc, 15 kg of gypsum, 2 kg of boron and one sack of vermicompost for dragon fruit. He received no cash beyond this.

Another farmer from the same village, Mofizur Rahman, said he grew elephant foot yam (ol) on one and a half bighas under a demonstration plot from the Sadar upazila DAE. The total help was a tiny fraction of the cost: 40 kg of DAP, 10 kg of MoP, 1 kg of zinc, 10 kg of gypsum, 21 kg of boron and one sack of vermicompost (organic fertiliser). Yet Tk 42,000 is allocated in his name. He too received no money beyond the inputs.

Farmer Asadul Haque said upazila agriculture officials withdraw the demonstration plot money after giving nominal help, and the real allocation is never shown.

In addition, farmers allege that although Tk 23,000 is allocated for jujube (kul) cultivation, Tk 10,500 for chilli and Tk 30,500 for beans, they did not receive even a third of it. They have to sign blank ledgers without knowing their own allocations.

Trouble arose when this reporter recently went to the Sadar upazila agriculture officer's office to ask about the allocations. Monirujjaman said he would provide the information later, but it never came to light.

Despite repeated attempts, agriculture officer Monirujjaman could not be reached for comment. He stays outside most of the time with his office locked, and he did not respond to calls on his mobile phone.

Bijoy Krishna Halder, deputy director of the district Department of Agricultural Extension, said action will be taken subject to an investigation.

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