Farmers separate 'good' potatoes from damaged ones at Shawon Himghar, a cold storage in Domar upazila of Nilphamari district, as they are in dire need of seed potatoes in the current cultivation season, right, a bag of potato without any tag of government's seed certification department is ready for sale at Taraganj Bazar in Rangpur district. Photo: STAR

Potato growers of eight northern districts are facing crisis of quality seeds at the very beginning of cultivation season this year as the supply by Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) is too inadequate.

Against the demand of around 2,25,959 tonnes of potato seeds in the region, the BADC has supplied only 2,074 tonnes, which is less than one percent of the requirement in the peak potato cultivation time November.

Farmers are deceived with low quality seeds while prices remain high as farmers earlier sold a big amount of potatoes kept in the cold storages, local sources said.

The regional office of Agriculture Extension Department (AED) in Rangpur has set a target to bring 1,50,639 hectares of land in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts under potato cultivation which is 10,000 hectares higher than that of the previous year.

Farmers are now preparing their lands for potato cultivation as harvest of early variety BRRI Dhan-33 and Bina Dhan-7, meant for combating monga, a near famine situation, has already completed.

Talking to The Daily Star, many farmers said that they usually prefer the seeds supplied by BADC as those are cultivated and preserved in a scientific way to make them free from virus and fungus and ensure high yield.

"Potatoes on my one bigha (30 decimal) land was damaged badly due to fungus attack last year. And I could not preserve those potatoes for seeds," said Ramjan Ali, a potato farmer of Sutibari village of Dimla upazila.

Like Ramjan Ali, many other farmers are now facing seeds crisis this season.

BADC sources said they have decided to sell 25 percent of its seeds directly to the farmers and 75 percent through some 550 dealers in the region this year.

But in most cases, farmers cannot afford to avail the opportunity as BADC has put a condition that one will have to buy at least 520 kgs of seeds which will cost between Tk 16,600 and Tk 20,000.

The price of 'A' grade potato seeds is Tk 38 per kg and that of 'B' grade is Tk 32 this year.

Farmers said potato seeds will ultimately go to the hands of dealers and traders as the dealers get advance order from big farmers or seed companies to sell their allotted seeds at high price.

The BADC seeds are rarely seen selling at its fixed rate in the local markets.

When asked about the seed crisis, Faruq Zahedul Huq, deputy director of BADC's seed marketing department in Rangpur region, said that the farmers could collect rest of the seeds from other sources like NGOs or private firms.

Agriculture officials, however, could not provide any information about the quantity and quality of seeds to be available from NGOs and private seed companies.

During a visit to seed markets at Tengonmari Haat of Nilphamari, Mohish Khocha Haat of Lalmonirhat and Sakoa Haat of Panchagarh, this correspondent selling of low quality potato seeds, mostly affected with virus and fungus.

A bag of 80 kg low-quality potato seed is selling for Tk 2,400 to Tk 2,600. The bags have no tag of the government's seed certification department that monitors the quality of seeds of different crops.

"My office certified only 375 tonnes of potato seeds of five private companies in the district. Over 90 percent seeds available in the market are without certification and of low quality," Muradul Hasan, seed certification officer for Nilphamari, said.

"Most potato fields in this region were affected with virus and fungus just before harvest last year. The affected potatoes were preserved in cold storages for using as seeds later. If those are sown, the plants might be affected again with various diseases," said Tauhidul Islam, a big potato farmer of Mohendra Nagar village in Lalmonirhat district.

When contacted, additional director of the regional office of AED in Rangpur Shakhawat Hossain said, "There is every possibility of the farmers' being cheated by purchasing low quality seeds. Sub assistant agriculture officers will visit door to door to suggest farmers about protection of their potatoes."