Jessore sees bumper jute seed production
Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) achieved bumper jute seed production through its contractual growers in three districts in greater Jessore this year.
M Rokanuzzaman, BADC Jessore regional deputy director agriculturist, said the corporation's jute seed division usually supplies quality seeds to contractual farmers and purchases new seeds from them after the harvest.
Later, BADC refines the collected seeds and sells those among the growers in packets after certification.
Rokanuzzaman said high production this year left a lot of surplus jute seeds for the next year.
This year, the seeds were produced on around 907 acres of land in Jessore zone, which comprises Jessore, Jhenidah and Magura districts.
Of the total land, 387 acres were used in Jessore, 495 acres in Jhenidah and 25 acres in Magura districts.
A total of 4,212 kilograms of jute seed were distributed among 1,761 farmers.
BADC targeted production of 268 tonnes of certified jute seeds this year, including 140 tonnes of local variety and 128 tonnes of tosha variety.
It has already procured 210 tonnes seed of local variety, which is 70 tonnes more than the target. The tosha seed is yet to be harvested that is also expected to cross the target.
As the BADC seeds are better than other varieties, those have a very good demand among growers.
But a section of unscrupulous traders purchase the seeds from the farmers at a higher price than the BADC's fixed price of Tk 90 a kg.
Then they adulterate the seed with low quality Indian ones and sell it in the market, which resulted in poor jute production.
People concerned with the jute seed production have urged the government to look into the matter and take actions to stop the malpractice.
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