Crop failure due to substandard seeds supplied by a multinational company in the tomato growing Godagari upazila which has been providing 80 per cent of its national supplies over the recent years is hurting the growers.
This year, the growers said that 8,000 farmers cultivated tomatoes on 4,500 hectares of land, and only those who did not buy Syngenta seeds escaped the problem.
They blamed substandard tomato seeds of the multinational company fort this year’s total crop failure.
Basel based global Swiss agribusiness company, Syngenta, which sold $10,992 million worth of seeds in more than 90 countries in 2009, deny the allegation that they sold substandard seeds.
The farmers said that Syngenta was not paying the compensation its officials had pledged to pay in the event of crop failures.
Many people liken the growing conflict between the multinational company and the farmers with the battle between Goliath, the giant warrior and David, the young shepherd boy.
As Indian traders exploited the crop failure to dump their tomatoes in the Bangladesh market, many farmers blamed the neighbouring country for creating the crisis for business advantage.
A handful of farmers in Godagari started cultivating hybrid tomatoes in 1998 and their success led almost all the farmers in the upazila to switch over to growing the crop by 2005.
Syngenta officials, however, said that fraudulent local traders had sold to farmers other seeds in duplicate Syngenta bags.
They said it was not Syngenta seeds.
The local magistrate has instituted an inquiry to look into the matter. And the Syngenta management met the investigation team on December 13.
As Godagari drew wholesale tomato buyers from all over the country the farmers were making a profit of about Tk 65,000 per bigha of their produce and 80 per cent of them used hybrid seed, Sabol-F!, sold by Syngenta.
Not surprisingly, the relationship between the farmers and Syngenta was good, until this season, when the first problem the growers faced was the price of its seed.
Because of the shortage of supply, a packet of seeds that usually cost around Tk 850 was being sold for Tk 2,500 to Tk 3,000 by local dealers.
The second problem, they said, was that the plants did not bear any fruit resulting in a loss for them worth around Tk 20,000 per bigha.
Tomato grower Moklesur Rahman told New Age that he sustained a loss worth Tk nine lakh cultivating tomatoes on 45 bigas of land.
Jalal Hossain, another grower, said that it would not be possible for him to repay Tk one lakh he had borrowed from Agriculture Bank as tomatoes he cultivated with the loan gave him no returns.
Syngenta managing director Sarwar Ahmed told New Age that the local distributors had given an order for 700 kg of seeds but due to global shortages the company was able to supply 255kg.
He says that it was simply not possible for farmers in the area to plant Syngenta’s seed on 80 per cent of 4,000 hectares of crop land.
He said that the seeds supplied by Syngenta were good for growing tomatoes only on 1,760 hectares of land for the desired yields.
He said that dishonest traders in the area exploited seed shortage to sell low quality seeds in duplicate bags of Syngenta to unsuspecting farmers.
He said that in August Syngenta anticipated this situation and asked the Agriculture Extension Department of the Agriculture Ministry to take action to ensure that it does not happen.
He says that the problem was faced by only those farmers who were duped to buy the dud seeds.
The farmers, however, assert that the Syngenta seeds were smaller this year than in the previous years.
They also argue that that the AED assisted Syngenta in selling sub-standards seeds
The matter is now under investigation by a five-member committee headed by a field officer of the Seeds Certification Agency.
On November 8, Moklesur Rahman a farmer, whose crop gave him no tomatoes, filed a case in the court of Rajshahi Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate against local dealer Rabiul Islam, and the Syngenta Company chairman
Seven days later, Maruf Hossain a farmer in Rajabari, Abul Kashem a farmer from Mohishalbari, and Jalal Uddin a farmer from Mohishalbari, filed another case with the same court making similar allegations against the same people
The magistrate of the court Mahmudul Hasan initially ordered the upazila agricultural officer Saiful Islam to investigate the case, but then set up a five-member probe committee headed by Ahmed Shafi, field officer of Seeds Certified Agency.
Ahmed Shafi told New Age that the probe committee had already visited the farms and recorded the statement of the farmers.
Last week, the committee met with Syngenta company representatives to get their side of the story.
‘We are happy with the investigation so far,’ said the company’s managing director Sarwar Ahmed.
He said, ‘The emotions have been taken out of things, and there are scientists on the committee. We are just waiting for what the probe court comes up with.’
The court is due to receive the report on January 3.
The farmers have formed Godagary Krishi Unnoyan Oikya Parishad to campaign for compensation from Syngenta.
Its convener Muklesur Rahman told New Age that the government should take necessary steps against Syngenta Company including, the cancellation of its license.
Local Awami League lawmaker Omar Faruk Chaudhury told New Age that he would raise the issue in parliament. He also promised to request the agriculture minister to appoint a committee to investigate the matter.
Local Syngenta dealer Rabiul Islam, an accused in the case, told New Age that the reason for the poor crop was the loss of fertility of land the farmers of Godagari have been cultivating tomato for 10 years.
