Panicles appeared on the paddy seedlings soon after sowing. A crop that comes in so quickly should have been a farming revolution, but it has become a disaster for the farmers. Because substandard seed made the seedlings flower early, yields have fallen alarmingly this year. The agriculture department puts the loss at more than half a crore taka.

Last year farmers in Badurtala village, Patharghata Sadar union, got a good yield from high-yielding BR-22 paddy seed from the company South Asian Seeds. So this year they again bought the same variety from Patharghata seed dealer Nasir Uddin Sardar. When they went to lift seedlings from the seedbed 15-20 days after sowing, they found panicles on all of them. The panicles came three months early, the immature crop yielded little, and most panicles were chaff.

According to the agriculture department, about 90 acres of paddy have been damaged by the substandard seed. The Department of Agricultural Marketing puts the financial loss at about Tk 60 lakh.

Farmers say they have lost at least Tk 40,000 per kura (a local land measure) but were given only Tk 5,000 each, and they are demanding proper compensation.

In Badurtala the fields sway with green crops. Farmers should have been pleased at the early crop, but they sit with gloomy faces. The paddy in all the surrounding fields has come in; only the South Asian Seeds BR-22 crop is pale.

Accusing the dealer of fraud, a farmer named Sakib told Jagonews: "Dealer Nasir Sardar of Patharghata gave us South Asian Seeds' BR-22 seed, saying it was a high-yielding variety. When problems appeared right after planting we told them, but they resorted to all sorts of tricks. In the name of compensation they gave us Tk 5,000 per kura, whereas planting cost us more than Tk 7,000."

Farmer Abdul Kader said angrily: "When the paddy came right after planting, I told the dealer. They came and took videos of my land and everyone else's. But later they gave us only Tk 5,000 and took our signatures on paper. We are uneducated people. The agriculture office should have stood by us, but it took the side of the dealer and the seed company and ruined us."

Iqbal Munshi brought paddy from his field to show. He told Jagonews that last time he got 40 maunds of paddy. "This year seed dealer Nasir Uddin Sardar pressed us to grow this company's paddy. When the paddy came early, we told the agriculture department and the dealer, and they paid Tk 5,000 compensation." His costs, however, had come to about Tk 40,000.

When the reporter went to dealer Nasir Uddin Sardar's shop, he left on noticing the reporter's presence.

Md Himel Al Islam, sub-assistant agriculture officer in Patharghata upazila, told Jagonews: "On the farmers' complaint we investigated in the field and found it to be true. We then told the dealer to pay compensation within three days. The dealer talked to the farmers and paid Tk 5,000 for every 63 decimals of land. Then both the farmers and the dealer gave a letter of satisfaction and withdrew the complaint."

Asked whether action had been taken against the seed company, he said: "We have no authority to act against the company. We have informed the appropriate authority."

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