Proper seed treatment to boost food output
Friday, 4 January 2008
Craig A. Meisner
Seed treatment is a practice done by 95 per cent of all growers in the developed world for over three decades. Yet, its practice in the developed world has not progressed as rapidly. Seed treatment products by various companies were evaluated in the 1980s by the Wheat Research Centre and Vitavax, or its sister product Provax 200 was shown to be the best of all, increasing the yields of wheat by a minimum of 10 per cent and a range to 35 per cent over many years of on-station and on-farm research and through hundreds of demonstrations throughout Bangladesh. However, Provax has not been marketed nor sold very much privately in Bangladesh-until now!
Since Bangladesh has a well-established crop seed producing industry, the BADC should introduce seed treatment to the growers initially as is currently done in Nepal and India. For example the wheat seed supply of BADC for 2005/06 was close to 14,00 metric tonnes (Mt) and all 100 pc was sold. Thus, if that year's seed from BADC were treated, it would require 42 tonnes of Provax 200 to treat the entire wheat stock of BADC seed. The cost of importing and treating the wheat seed is close to $1.48 million USID. This major thrust should be an attempt to treat all of BADC seeds-which was about 47,000 Mt requiring 141 tonne of Provax. After an evaluation of the cost/benefits, the BADC could make a decision whether they will continue to treat the seed and include the cost or not in the future. Thereafter, a system of distribution and sale in the private sector must be encouraged for the use of Provax 200 as a seed treatment for growers' seeds. Additionally, private seeds men could be encouraged to treat their seeds, adding a marketing advantage over the private sale of seeds in the market. This seed treatment has two distinct advantages: 1) increasing yields 10 per cent and 2) providing a marketing advantage once growers realise the value of seed treatment. Thus, seed treatment can also be a way to introduce private seed dealers' into a reliable, marketable seed product that is distinctly different than the generally marketed wheat seeds. Bangladesh needs to join the rest of the world in treating its seeds!
While data on use of Provax on wheat is readily available, other data on the use of Provax in Bangladesh exists on the beneficial effects on other crop seeds such as jute, lentils, chickpea, and rice.
As wheat is a newly introduced crop to Bangladesh, it is interesting to use this crop as an example of how Provax seed treatment could change production and profitability. However, similar results would be found for many of the crops in Bangladesh. A joint Bangladesh-FAO soil survey project in 1975 determined that 2.3 million hectares of land were physically suitable for wheat production under rainfed conditions (Brammer, et al., 1988). An additional 0.8 million hectares were suitable for wheat production under irrigation. However, wheat cultivation in 1991 was done in approximately 600,000 hectares, representing only 20 pc of the total suitable land for wheat cultivation in Bangladesh. Areas grown in wheat have ranged from 120,000 to 700,000 hectares over the years. Yet, the yields have stagnated since mid-1980s.
The yield stagnation that has occurred in the past 6-10 years. There are many theories, for this stagnation; the most plausible is the expanding irrigation with the concurrent displacement with boro rice which has expanded to many of the former wheat producing areas. Meanwhile, wheat production areas have gone to more marginal lands. Thus, it appears that any expansion of wheat area, while shown to be possible, has not occurred in Bangladesh. Still, there is room for improvement of yield potential through better crop management and inputs. Seed treatment is a technology which has been well-researched in Bangladesh and has yielded a minimum 10 pc yield increase in wheat consistently in both researchers' plots and growers' fields.
Imagine if all seed in Bangladesh was treated with fungicides like Provax, what a 10 pc+ yield increase would mean to productivity! It would require 5,651 tonnes of Provax to treat the entire seed requirement of Bangladesh but it would boost yields over 10 per cent right away!
Craig A. Meisner is Adjunct Professor at Cernell University
Seed treatment is a practice done by 95 per cent of all growers in the developed world for over three decades. Yet, its practice in the developed world has not progressed as rapidly. Seed treatment products by various companies were evaluated in the 1980s by the Wheat Research Centre and Vitavax, or its sister product Provax 200 was shown to be the best of all, increasing the yields of wheat by a minimum of 10 per cent and a range to 35 per cent over many years of on-station and on-farm research and through hundreds of demonstrations throughout Bangladesh. However, Provax has not been marketed nor sold very much privately in Bangladesh-until now!
Since Bangladesh has a well-established crop seed producing industry, the BADC should introduce seed treatment to the growers initially as is currently done in Nepal and India. For example the wheat seed supply of BADC for 2005/06 was close to 14,00 metric tonnes (Mt) and all 100 pc was sold. Thus, if that year's seed from BADC were treated, it would require 42 tonnes of Provax 200 to treat the entire wheat stock of BADC seed. The cost of importing and treating the wheat seed is close to $1.48 million USID. This major thrust should be an attempt to treat all of BADC seeds-which was about 47,000 Mt requiring 141 tonne of Provax. After an evaluation of the cost/benefits, the BADC could make a decision whether they will continue to treat the seed and include the cost or not in the future. Thereafter, a system of distribution and sale in the private sector must be encouraged for the use of Provax 200 as a seed treatment for growers' seeds. Additionally, private seeds men could be encouraged to treat their seeds, adding a marketing advantage over the private sale of seeds in the market. This seed treatment has two distinct advantages: 1) increasing yields 10 per cent and 2) providing a marketing advantage once growers realise the value of seed treatment. Thus, seed treatment can also be a way to introduce private seed dealers' into a reliable, marketable seed product that is distinctly different than the generally marketed wheat seeds. Bangladesh needs to join the rest of the world in treating its seeds!
While data on use of Provax on wheat is readily available, other data on the use of Provax in Bangladesh exists on the beneficial effects on other crop seeds such as jute, lentils, chickpea, and rice.
As wheat is a newly introduced crop to Bangladesh, it is interesting to use this crop as an example of how Provax seed treatment could change production and profitability. However, similar results would be found for many of the crops in Bangladesh. A joint Bangladesh-FAO soil survey project in 1975 determined that 2.3 million hectares of land were physically suitable for wheat production under rainfed conditions (Brammer, et al., 1988). An additional 0.8 million hectares were suitable for wheat production under irrigation. However, wheat cultivation in 1991 was done in approximately 600,000 hectares, representing only 20 pc of the total suitable land for wheat cultivation in Bangladesh. Areas grown in wheat have ranged from 120,000 to 700,000 hectares over the years. Yet, the yields have stagnated since mid-1980s.
The yield stagnation that has occurred in the past 6-10 years. There are many theories, for this stagnation; the most plausible is the expanding irrigation with the concurrent displacement with boro rice which has expanded to many of the former wheat producing areas. Meanwhile, wheat production areas have gone to more marginal lands. Thus, it appears that any expansion of wheat area, while shown to be possible, has not occurred in Bangladesh. Still, there is room for improvement of yield potential through better crop management and inputs. Seed treatment is a technology which has been well-researched in Bangladesh and has yielded a minimum 10 pc yield increase in wheat consistently in both researchers' plots and growers' fields.
Imagine if all seed in Bangladesh was treated with fungicides like Provax, what a 10 pc+ yield increase would mean to productivity! It would require 5,651 tonnes of Provax to treat the entire seed requirement of Bangladesh but it would boost yields over 10 per cent right away!
Craig A. Meisner is Adjunct Professor at Cernell University