***The overwhelming loss can be overcome by increased production of vegetables. Vegetable production can create employment opportunities for people in the rural areas and generate income for their families.

THE prolonged deluge, which had two-thirds of the country under water 'for nearly two months, has had a devastating Impact on the country's economic growth, damaging crops, fisheries, livestock and Infrastructure. The farmers, the most important exponents of the agro-based economy, have been devastated by the worst flood of the cen-

According to a Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimate. 16.65.390 hectares of land were affected, causing damage to 20.85.404 tonnes of aman paddy. The Dhaka office of the organisa-tion-aiso projected a shortfall qf dtarly 4.3 million tonnes of ' tixBppns. incliMtpg a normal defjtg qf 2.3 miffidn tonnes. The scenario appears bleak, indeed. but the damage is not irre-pairable.

The overwhelming loss can be overcome by increased production of vegetables.. Vegetable production can create employment opportunities for people in the rural areas and generate income for their families. Besides. production of more vegetables wilt effectively deal with severe malnutrition in the rural and urban areas. All our farmers will have to do is direct their efforts towards cultivation of different seasonal vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage. broccoli, olkopi. carrot, gourd, onion, long bean, radish, 'tomato, eggplant, pea. potato etc.

For good yield, the first and foremost requirement is good seed. Seed is the basic component of any crop production system. It is also the vehicle through which genetic improvement is introduced and crop performance is maintained. Good seeds stand for good yield.

In our country, vegetable seeds are mostly traded and supplied by the private sector. Bangladesh Agricultural Development Council (BADC). the only public sector organisation which supply vegetable seeds of good quality, generates only one per cent of the total requirement. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute

(BARI), the largest research facility in the National Agricultural Research System, only produces breeders seed of improved variety. Over the years. BARI has developed high-yielding varieties of seeds for increased production of vegetables in the country, such as Ratan and Manik (resistant to bacterial wilt). BARI Tomato-3 of tomato. Tasakisan and Pinky of radish. BARI Lalshak-1 of Amamath (resistant to disease and insect). Uttara of eggplant (resistant to fruit borer). BARI Lau-1 of gourd, BARI Sheem-1. BARI Jnar Sheem-1 of French bean. BARI Motor Shuti-1 of pea, Hera. Multa, Diamond. Cardinal of potato. These varieties have shown good yield performance. Some vegetable seeds of BARI released varieties created a market of high demand both at home and abroad. I personally conducted a research programme and found that BARI-1 of okra (dherosh) seeds are being exported to neighbouring countries by entrepreneurs in the private sector. This shows the export potential of the seeds. However, at present, our objective should be making the seeds available to the farmers in

The government has already undertaken a big-scale rehabilitation programme and started distribution of Tk. 3270 crore as agricultural credit among the flood-affected farmers to rehabilitate the agricultural sector and to increase food production to offset the deficit due to crop failure during the flood. This programme would obviously increase the purchasing ability of the farmers. FAO has promised distribution of 25 tonnes of vegetable seeds of improved varieties.

The Director General of FAO. Dr Jacques Diouf has approved an emergency assistance project in this regard. The organisation also pledged technical advisory services for the production of vegetable under the post-flood rehabilitation programme. It is needless to say that FAO has done a lot for organised vegetable seed production in the private sector since the begin-

ning of FAO/BADC vegetable seed project in 1986.

BARI. too. has taken up a re-habllitatlon programme. BARISA (Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute Scientist Association) in association with Vegetable Division has raised seedlings of vegetable for distribution among the flood-affected farmers. Furthermore. BARI, through NGOs and its own regional stations, is distributing improved varieties of quality vegetable seeds to the farmers. The Krlshibid Institute Bangladesh has launched a programme of raising six million seedlings in its own premises to help the flood-affected farmers.

The vegetable seeds currently used by the farmers are largely*jjpf inferior quality which leads to dwindling production. According to vegetable expert Dr. M Mamunur Rashid, less than 12 per cent of the vegetable seeds used in Bangladesh are produced in an organised way and are of good quality. Fifty per cent the total requirement are met by farmer-to-farmer exchange seeds or farmer-retained seeds. These seeds are not produced generally in an organised way and are of poor quality.

According to Dr. Rashid, nearly 30 per cent of the vegetable seeds used in Bangladesh are "spot market seed". These seeds are also not of good quality and their varietal character is totally unknown. To increase production of vegetable these low-quality seeds must be replaced by seeds of improved variety. Replacement of low quality seeds by good quality seed at least by 10 per cent would lead to remarkable rise in production.

Dr. Rashid is also of the opinion that the vegetable plantation can be expanded to the lands which could not be used for aman crops due to flood and with the aman season gone, production of vegetables in these lands would certainly make up for the losses to a great extent.

Every block of vegetable field should always be monitored by the extension people to ensure good yield. The research

personnel should be immediately informed if there is any kind of diseases, insect and pest attack in the field, so that they can come up with appropriate measures. Thus research and extension personnel should work combinedly. especially during the current season to minimise the crop losses of the farmer.

Authorities concerned should make arrangements for special programmes on radio and television, to be aired daily throughout a week at least. These programmes, specially designed for the farmers, should feature experts talking on vegetable production technique. seedlingraising. proper management aN cultural prac.- . tlces. importance -of:improvtwT'’' variety seed rise etc. The initiative would certainly create awareness among the farmers to use quality seeds and thus, have a positive impact on production.

Trade and distribution of vegetable seeds should be controlled by the private sector. Some precautionary measures should be taken for the well-being of the farmers. More often than not. the farmers are cheated by the traders. So, arrangements should be made so that the farmers are not misled into purchasing seeds without proper packing, brand name or labelling.

The government may form surveillance teams with the vegetable experts to monitor overall vegetable production and problems in the field throughout the country. The teams have to supervise the quality of the seeds sold in market. Steps should be taken to deter dishonest traders intending to make most of the crisis. Import of vegetables seeds is likely to increase this Eear. Variety, vigorous and via-ility, and germination capacity of the imported seeds should be examined by a committee comprising vegetable experts about as well. These imported seeds must be free from disease and insects.

The writer is an Agronomist working at BARI. Joyaebpur.