Black-gram cultivation goes in vain in Pabna
Monday, 1 November 2010
Our Correspondent
PABNA, Oct 31: "I have cultivated black-gram (Mas-kalai) on 3 bighas of land. The plants have grown healthy and the leaves are looking good too but there is no flower and crop in them. The plants are now only used as cattle feed," Md. Hassan Ali, a farmer of Vojendrapur village of Maligasa Union told the FE where the latter visited his field Friday.
The same thing happened over thousand bighas of lands of 10 adjoining villages of Pabna Sadar and Atghoria Upazila. There is good looking plants everywhere in the fields but there is no crop.
Bewildered and agitated farmers claimed that faulty seeds of the crops might be responsible for the mishap though the BADC (Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation) and AED (Agriculture extension department) officials claimed that the weather might have been responsible for the loss.
The agitated farmers called a protest programme Thursday at Tebunia Bazaar area in Pabna sadar Upazila but the programme was later called off under pressure from the influential people and the local ruling party activists, farmers claimed. Farmers claimed that they where cheated to buy BADC seeds from a dealer named Md. Habibur Rahman from Tebunia Bazaar area this season.
"We bought Bari-Mas-3 variety of seeds from Md. Habibur Rahman, a BADC dealer. With the hope of good production we planted BADC approved seeds. Good looking plants have grown in the field but no flower and crop", Md. Anser Ali Dilu, a farmer of Shreekantapur village of Atghoria Upazila told the FE.
The farmers claimed that the other farmers who bought seeds from dealer Md. Habibur Rahman of Tebunia market in Pabna had the experience.
During a visit to Vojendrapur, Mohendrapur, Falia, Atallahpur of Pabna Sadar upazila and Debuttor and Shreekantapur villages of Atghoria upazila this correspondent found a huge expanse of field of black-gram without any crop. The hapless farmers now use the plants as their cattle's feed.
"At least 5 to 6 mounds of black-gram is usually grown from each bigha of land. I had a high hope of earning Tk. 10 to 12 thousand from one bigha land but the result now is big zero.
When contacted the BADC seed dealer Md. Habibur Rahman refuted the allegation and said the weather might be responsible for the situation. There is no fault in seeds," he told the FE.
The Deputy Director of BADC, (seed) Md. Abdul Halim also said that there is no fault in the BADC allotted seeds. The farmers lost their production due to the bad weather condition.
PABNA, Oct 31: "I have cultivated black-gram (Mas-kalai) on 3 bighas of land. The plants have grown healthy and the leaves are looking good too but there is no flower and crop in them. The plants are now only used as cattle feed," Md. Hassan Ali, a farmer of Vojendrapur village of Maligasa Union told the FE where the latter visited his field Friday.
The same thing happened over thousand bighas of lands of 10 adjoining villages of Pabna Sadar and Atghoria Upazila. There is good looking plants everywhere in the fields but there is no crop.
Bewildered and agitated farmers claimed that faulty seeds of the crops might be responsible for the mishap though the BADC (Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation) and AED (Agriculture extension department) officials claimed that the weather might have been responsible for the loss.
The agitated farmers called a protest programme Thursday at Tebunia Bazaar area in Pabna sadar Upazila but the programme was later called off under pressure from the influential people and the local ruling party activists, farmers claimed. Farmers claimed that they where cheated to buy BADC seeds from a dealer named Md. Habibur Rahman from Tebunia Bazaar area this season.
"We bought Bari-Mas-3 variety of seeds from Md. Habibur Rahman, a BADC dealer. With the hope of good production we planted BADC approved seeds. Good looking plants have grown in the field but no flower and crop", Md. Anser Ali Dilu, a farmer of Shreekantapur village of Atghoria Upazila told the FE.
The farmers claimed that the other farmers who bought seeds from dealer Md. Habibur Rahman of Tebunia market in Pabna had the experience.
During a visit to Vojendrapur, Mohendrapur, Falia, Atallahpur of Pabna Sadar upazila and Debuttor and Shreekantapur villages of Atghoria upazila this correspondent found a huge expanse of field of black-gram without any crop. The hapless farmers now use the plants as their cattle's feed.
"At least 5 to 6 mounds of black-gram is usually grown from each bigha of land. I had a high hope of earning Tk. 10 to 12 thousand from one bigha land but the result now is big zero.
When contacted the BADC seed dealer Md. Habibur Rahman refuted the allegation and said the weather might be responsible for the situation. There is no fault in seeds," he told the FE.
The Deputy Director of BADC, (seed) Md. Abdul Halim also said that there is no fault in the BADC allotted seeds. The farmers lost their production due to the bad weather condition.