Our Correspondent, Sirajganj, The Daily Star, 05 September 2007, Wednesday

With recession of flood water, there are signs of devastation all around but farmers are in fields with new hopes to grow Amon paddy and early winter vegetables. Sirajganj was the worst affected district with most areas of its nine upazilas reeling under waters from Mighty Jamauna this year.

According to district agriculture officials’ estimate, at least Tk 72 crore crops including paddy, jute, sugarcane and vegetables on 47,407 hectares were damaged by flood.

Sources in Agriculture Extension Department (AED) said there are 56,124 hectares of cultivable land in 81 unions in nine upazilas of the district. The flood damaged crops on 22,762 hectares fully and 24,645 hectares partially, affecting about 230000 families.

With recession of flood water, AED with assistance of district administration and Army has taken a post flood rehabilitation programme. Under the programme, the government has sanctioned Tk 4 crore and Tk 2 crore of it has been made available to assist farmers in cultivation of rice and vegetables, AED sources said.

This correspondent visited different areas of the district, where farmers said they face crisis Amon seedlings and fertilizer, which hamper cultivation. They are collecting seedlings from far away places at high prices as the seedbeds had gone under flood water.

Adul Kader of Tarash said that he sowed Amon seeds on one and half bigha of land. All reeled under water. He has purchased seedlings at Tk 300 per 80 bundles which were sold at between Tk 70 and Tk 80 last year.

AED officials said they have set a target to bring 50220 hectares under Amon cultivation.

Many farmers said they are transplanting Amon seedlings for the second time in about a month as the first transplantation was damaged by flood.

Some farmers said they have borrowed from local moneylenders to cultivate crops after flood.

All of them said they now need smooth supply of fertiliser.

A hiogh official of the district administration seeking anonymity said the government allotment of Tk 2 crore is too inadequate to the needs.

AED Deputy Director Khandaker Hasibur Rahman said they are preparing lists of affected farmers who will get the assistance.

He said about 89,033 tonnes of urea fertiliser are needed for the district this season but they have a stock of about 3755.50 tonnes.

Army sources said they have also started seedlings distribution among affected farmers. As a part of the programme, Bogra Brigade Commander Brig. Gen. Emadul Huq (PSC) distributed seedlings among farmers at Ghurka Beltola on 25 August. Brig. Gen. A K M Mahfuzul Huq (PSC) also distributed seedlings at Raiganj on 29 August.

FE Report, The Daily Financial Express, 10 November 2007

Farmers in the northern districts are facing scarcity of fertilisers and seeds, which may affect cultivation of Rabi crops and Boro paddy.

They have said the problems will not only escalate the production costs of those food items but also will reduce their production.

Some farmers from northern districts have complained about short supply of fertilisers and seeds of potato, wheat, Boro rice and other Rabi crops.

Salahuddin Khan, a farmer in Rajshahi district, Friday said the farmers hardly get necessary fertilisers — urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), triple-supper phosphate (TSP) and muriate of potash (MoP) – from the dealers or from the open markets.

“Now we are preparing lands for cultivation of potato, which requires use of DAP, MoP, TSP and Urea to augment the production. But the DAP is being sold at Tk 1900 to 2200 and MoP at Tk 1600 to 1800 per 50-kilogram (kg) bag in the market. The unusual high prices have put us in difficulties so far as cultivation of potato and other Rabi crops is concerned,” he said.

According to Agriculture ministry sources, the normal prices of DAP, MoP and TSP at farmers’ level are Tk 950 to Tk1050, Tk 750 to Tk850 and Tk 750 to Tk850 per bag respectively.

Meanwhile, another farmer in the same area Akbar Ali said: “We are being forced to procure potato seeds at high rate from the market due to short supply.”

“The suppliers are selling potato seeds at Tk 3000 to Tk3500 per 40-kg bag instead of Tk 1600-Tk2000 in the last season,” he stated.

Agro-economists feel if the fertilisers are not available in the market, the farmers will be discouraged to cultivate Rabi crops like potato, wheat, and Boro paddy in the post-flood period, which might create scarcity of food in local markets in the future.

Terming the scarcity as temporary, an agriculture ministry official Friday claimed that the problem would be over as the imported agricultural inputs would be made available shortly.

“The importers stopped import of fertiliser for about one and a half months (August-September) due to non-payment of their dues on account of subsidy by the government. The postponement has affected the fertiliser supply at the moment,” he said.

He, however, said the traders resumed import from early last month.

Usually the private sector and the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) import the fertilisers including TSP, MoP and DAP while the state-owned Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) brings in urea.

President of the Bangladesh Fertiliser Association (BFA), Kafil Uddin Ahmad told the FE that import and supply of fertiliser had been boosted.

The President of BFA, a platform of the fertiliser importers, said 50,000 tonnes of TSP and 18,000 tonnes of MoP have been supplied to the government appointed dealers in order to market those at the farmers’ level.

The government has also given them (importers) permission to import 0.1 million tonnes of DAP from the international markets, he stated.

Besides, he said, the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) would supply 0.15 million tonnes of DAP from the local production units.

Under an arrangement with the importers, the government this year will provide 15 per cent subsidy to the private sector importers on the value of their imported fertilisers to ensure supply of the farm input to the farmers at a lower price.

Agriculture ministry sources said about 60 per cent of the total annual demand for fertiliser is needed during the Robi and Boro season.

During the season – from November to March– demand for DAP is over 0.25 million tonnes and TSP and MoP is around 0.35 million tonnes each.

Meanwhile, the annual demand for Urea is around 2.8 million tonnes, TSP 0.475 million tonnes, MoP 0.4 million tonnes and DAP 0.3 million tonnes, the sources informed.

United News of Bangladesh . Chapainawabganj, The Daily New Age, 10 November 2007

FARMERS of Chapainawabganj may not achieve the target of boro and wheat cultivation due to acute seed crisis.
   According to the local Department of Agriculture Extension, a target has been set to cultivate boro on 44,940 hectares of land while wheat on 15,000 hectares in the district during the current season. The farmers need 990 tonnes of boro seeds and 1,800 tonnes of wheat seeds to achieve the target.
   A number of farmers said they would start preparing boro seedbeds and wheat cultivation in the middle of the current month. But they are apprehending that they might not achieve the target as the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation and its appointed dealers have failed to supply them with adequate seeds.
   The farmers said usually they store seeds every season but they failed to store seeds this year due to flood and other natural calamities and were now depending on BADC’s seed due to its high quality and reasonable price.
   Local agricultural officials, however, denied the seed crisis and said that farmers had stocked sufficient despite natural calamities but they were depending on BADC’s seeds due to its high quality and reasonable price.
   Assistant director of the local BADC Hasan Toufiqur Rahman said the BADC received 75 tonnes of seeds for boro cultivation in the district and of the total, 14 tonnes were sanctioned for its sale centre and the rest seed to its 16 dealers. He also said the sale centre sold out the seeds during the last part of October and dealers had almost finished their quota. He further said the BADC had urged the higher authorities to sanction more seven tonnes of boro seed to meet the increasing demand.
   BADC officials said 130 tonnes of wheat seeds had been allocated for the district, which will be available within a week. The farmers will have to manage the rest of the seeds.

Zakir Hossain . Rangpur, The Daily New Age, 26 November 2007

POTATO cultivation in eight districts of the Rangpur-Dinajpur region is likely to face a setback this year due to shortage of quality seeds.
   A total of 1.15 lakh hectares of land were brought under the potato cultivation with a production target of 19,56,700 tonnes. The demand for seeds in the targeted land is about 1.5 lakh tonnes while the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation could supply only 1,600 tonnes of seeds to the farmers. The huge gap between the demand and supply of quality seeds has worried potato farmers.
   Afzal Hossein, a farmer at Nabdiganj Bazar under the Rangpur district headquarters, said he had planned to cultivate potato on his one acre of land this year. He tried to collect seeds from the BADC and NGOs to ensure the quality. But he could not procure it, as the supply was very thin. So, he managed seeds from local markets. He apprehended that the production would be affected, as the seeds collected from local markets were not quality seeds.
   According to farmers, they are somehow collecting seeds from local NGOs like BRAC and Rangpur-Dinajpur Rural Service, private sectors and elsewhere. Many of them alleged that the quality of the seeds that they were managing was substandard. Farmers feared that the production would be affected for the huge shortfall of quality seeds.
   Officials in the Department of Agriculture Extension said a total of 1,15,100 hectares of land were brought under potato cultivation in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Thakurgaon, Nilphamari and Panchagarh this year while it was 1.35 lakh hectares in the last year.
   Of the target, 33,500 hectares were brought under Rangpur, 26,300 hectares under Dinajpur, 16,700 hectares under Nilphamari, 16,200 hectares under Thakurgaon, 6,700 hectares under Gaibandha, 6,700 hectares under Panchagarh, 4,500 hectares under Kurigram and 4,500 hectares under Lalmonirhat.
   Asadur Rhaman, deputy director of the Rangpur BADC, said there would be no shortage of seeds as a huge stock of seeds remained in the hands of farmers.
   But MG Neazi, agriculture coordinator of the RDRS, said the farmers preserved potato for consumption which was being sold now in the local markets as seeds. ‘It is completely substandard,’ he added.
   Neazi said the RDRS had planned to combat the seed crisis launching a pilot programme. It has planned to train up groups of farmers in the production of quality seeds, he added.
   ‘About 70-80 per cent demands of the seeds are met up by the farmers. So, they need to be trained up in the production of quality seeds ’, Neazi said.