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Calls for quality seeds to boost harvests

Star Business Report
Policymakers and experts yesterday called upon private companies to supply quality seeds to farmers who count losses from using substandard seeds.
"Act responsibly and do not fall for the temptation to make quick profits," said Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury. “Farmers will not touch your seeds again once they are cheated by your second-rate seeds."
According to Chowdhury, the agriculture ministry sits with seed suppliers whenever there are reports of crop losses due to dodgy seeds.
The prevalence of substandard seeds is due to the pull for windfall gains from imports ofcheap, second-rate seeds, she said.
“The farmers suffer."
“The government's vigilance and monitoring will be there, but responsible behaviour
from suppliers is necessary as well," she said.
Chowdhury also called upon the private sector to establish research centres to concoct better varieties of seeds, such that Bangladesh becomes a food exporter.
Food Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said many farmers missed out on good yields due to the substandard seeds supplied by some private sector companies.
"We have to rigorously monitor seed quality before they go out to the farmers," Razzaque said. “We will have to verify the claims the companies make on the labels of packages."
The use of seeds supplied by companies — both private and public -- has increased over the years. It is now 23 percent of total seeds used by farmers. Five years ago, it was 13 percent, Agriculture Secretary Monzur Hossain said.
The annual requirement of seeds including cereal, pulses,
oil and potato was 11.72 lakh tonnes but the supply of quality seeds was 2.06 lakh tonnes in fiscal 2009-10, according to data from the agriculture ministry.
Md Nazmul Huda, president of Bangladesh Society of Seed Technology, has an explanation why poor quality seeds make its way to the farmers.
Packaging of seeds takes place in as many 144 different places and most of them do not have the facility to undertake quality checks before packing them up.
Anwar Faruque, additional secretary of the ministry of agriculture said the demand for quality seed is rising as they can increase yields by 15-20 percent.
FR Malik, president of Bangladesh Seed Association, therefore urged the government to improve the infrastructure to make it more conducive for research and development of superior quality seed varieties.