SM Najmus Sakib
With the demand for hybrid seeds rising, the private seed sector has witnessed a steady growth in the country over a decade.
Private companies and traders now meet over 90 per cent of the demand for hybrid seeds of maize, vegetables and spices, according to the sector insiders.
The private seed companies claimed to have witnessed a 10-11 per cent market growth annually, up from 4-5 per cent a decade ago. Presently, the local seed market is worth about Tk 30 billion (Tk 3,000 crore).
The seed market started expanding after the private sector was allowed to import and sell hybrid seeds in 1998 amid the growing demand for quality seeds.
Agriculturists and businesses concerned said good seeds can help increase crop yields by up to 20 per cent.
According to the Bangladesh Seed Association (BSA), a trade body of 180 members, 85 per cent of hybrid paddy seeds are supplied by the country's public and private sectors.
Belal Hossain, product manager of Syngenta Bangladesh Ltd, said the annual growth of the private seed sector was 4.0 or 5.0 per cent a decade ago, it is now about 10 or 11 per cent.
In the last eight to 10 years, the demand for hybrid seeds increased sharply and the private sector was supplying a good portion of the seeds, he added.
A number of private companies are importing hybrid seeds and supplying them to the local market while some others are producing hybrid seeds in their own agricultural labs, he said. It opened new avenues for the private sector, he added.
The Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) meets 13 per cent of demand for seeds in the country while the figure is 60 per cent for paddy seeds, according to its officials.
In the fiscal year 2016-17, the demand for paddy seeds was 302,875 tonnes. The BADC supplied 102,680 tonnes and the private sector 32,725 tonnes while the remaining seeds came from farmers' stock of traditional seeds, import and other sources, according to the agriculture ministry.
Besides, the total demand for vegetable seeds in the local market was 2,137 tonnes a year. The private sector supplied 931 tonnes of seeds in FYs 2016-17 and 2015-16 each, the ministry's data showed.
Currently, the country's total demand for seeds is 1,091,393 tonnes and the BADC is providing 13 per cent of it, said Syed Ejaz Hussain, manager (development) for seed at BADC.
"The paddy seed market in the country is still dominated by BADC and the vegetable and spices seed market by the private sector. The private sector's contribution to the seed market witnessed positive growth in the last couple of years," he mentioned.
BSA executive director Nessar Uddin said the private sector is meeting about 14-16 per cent of total demand for seeds while the rest come from farmers and through import.
A decade ago, the private sector met 7.0 or 8.0 per cent of total demand. Since 2005, the private seed sector started growing fast, he mentioned.
Now private and public sectors together supply 28-30 per cent of the demand for seeds, he said.
Md Azim Uddin, chief seed technologist at the ministry of agriculture, said the formal sector meets 21 per cent of demand for seeds while semi-formal sector 38 per cent and informal sector 41 per cent.
In the formal sector, BADC's contribution is 15 per cent while the private sector's is 6.0 per cent, he added.
The private sector is making a significant contribution to seed supply from the semi-formal sector, he said. In the informal sector, seeds come from local farmers, he said.
According to the BSA, the private sector is currently importing paddy seeds mainly from Japan, India and the Philippines and vegetable seeds from Taiwan, Italy, the USA, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.
BSA sources said the private sector is also exporting seeds to many countries, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Pakistan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Italy and some African countries.
They also said more quality seeds could not be exported to the USA and EU countries as there is no seed testing lab of international standards in the country.
Stakeholders in the private sector also called for setting up a seed processing centre and a seed storehouse to help boost the sector.
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