Impact of Six-day Rain in Patuakhali: Seedbed damage triggers Aman seed shortage

Farmers of Aman rice in Patuakhali have been scrambling to find Aman seeds after nearly one-third of Aman seedbeds were damaged during six days of incessant showers in the last week of July in the district.

Most of the Aman seedbeds were destroyed there, as agricultural land remained under three to four feet of water between July 26 and July 31, said locals.

The persistent heavy downpour, caused by a low pressure in the Bay of Bengal, resulted in 174 millimetres of rainfall -- a 15-year high in the district, according to the meteorological office in Patuakhali.

With the Aman planting season at its peak and most seedbeds damaged, farmers had been trying to collect Aman seeds and seedlings from distant upazilas in and outside Patuakhali, said local farmers.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Patuakhali, seedbeds were made on about 25,000 hectares of land, setting Aman cultivation target on about two lakh hectares in the district.

Farmers said one-third of their Aman seedbeds on around 40,000 hectares of land have been damaged due to the rain. But according to the DAE, 48,150 farmers have incurred losses of around Tk 5.12 lakh after their seedbeds on 4,108 hectares sustained damage.

After losing their seedbeds, most of them contacted dealer outlets for Aman seeds, but only a few dealers had the seeds. Several of the dealers have been selling a 10-kg bag of seeds for Tk 1 thousand, which usually sells for Tk 700 during regular times, the farmers alleged.

Many of them feared that one-third of Aman fields may go uncultivated this Aman season unless the seed shortage is mitigated urgently.

Jabbar Sikder, a farmer from Auliapur village in Patuakhali Sadar upazila, said the rain in July destroyed his seedbed where he sowed two maunds of Aman seed.

As time is running out for making new seedbeds, he spent Tk 100 for each kilogram of seed at a store in Boga village of Baufal upazila, he added. 

"The flooding destroyed my seedbed. Later, I bought some seeds from Karnakathi village in Jhalokathi and sowed those in some part of my land," said farmer Shanu Mollah, from Amkhola village in Galachipa upazila.

Asked about the reason for the seed shortage, Mujibur Rahman, a seed dealer in Thanapara area of Patuakhali town, said the supply of Aman seeds had been stopped by Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation ever since the seed sowing season was over.

It fuelled the crisis at markets as other suppliers also ran out of the seed, he added.

During a recent visit, this correspondent found almost all Aman seedbeds in Auliapur, Badura, Balaikathi, Madarbunia and Marichbunia villages in Patuakhali Sadar upazila; Amkhola, Golkhali and Kharijjama in Galachipa upazila; and Pangashia and Kartikpasha villages in Dumki upazila devastated by the rain.

Advising farmers to collect Aman seed from Baufal and Dashmina upazilas, where dealers have a sufficient stock, Patuakhali DAE Deputy Director AKM Mohiuddin said about 61 percent of targeted cultivation has so far been achieved in the district.