Seeds can save seven years!

Past pillars

In the past, technology was the treatment for our ills. The introduction of HYVs (high yielding varieties) and increased food production that it resulted in is a pointer to this. However, grappling for decades over the gap, we now seem to face a new dilemma in technology development. The easy means of managing food shortages have already been exploited. For example, ground water potentials have already been overutilised, adoption of MVs already reached the technically suitable regions, and there is now in evidence a declining trend in yields following unbalanced use of nutrients. Scientists' search for new options such as "super rice" or "hybrid rice" is progressing at snails pace to keep the wheel move slow. Apparently, in the near future, no new technology of a tall order is likely to make a dent in the impasse created by the food and mouth misalignment mentioned before.

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New horizon

However, there is no denying the fact that there is still some yield gap, which could be reduced with improved crop management practices. The average yield gap could be about 0.9 tons/ha for the boro season and 1.3 tons/ha for the aman season. If this gap could be bridged, paddy production would rise by an additional 7.5 million tons every year. And that would not be out of reach provided farmers are taught about the proper preservation of seeds. It should be mentioned here that more than four-fifths of farm seeds originate from farmers' own stock, another 10 per cent from neighbours, and only 10-15 per cent from NGOs, BADC and others.

We, therefore, suggest that we should not spend 80 per cent of the efforts for 10 per cent of the seeds. Rather, we should devote 10 per cent of the efforts on 80 per cent of the seeds. That implies that technological teachings on seed management need to be taken to farmers so that they can emerge as seed entrepreneurs themselves. The mercy of the markets for seeds on them could be curtailed to a greater extent.

Enviable empirics

In my recent visits to some of the villages in Bangladesh, I was told that good quality or healthy seeds could raise yield by about 10-12 per cent. Farmers also informed me that healthy seeds, on average, save roughly Tk 350 per bigha (33 decimals). The training on seed management was provided by a project of IRRI through a participatory approach. Both "formal scientists" (researchers) and "informal scientists" (farmers) sat together to try out the technology.

Farmers sowed clean seeds from laboratories on a part of the parcel they cultivated and also sowed their own seeds traditionally used. Other things remaining same, the difference was roughly 10 per cent. Besides, application of seed rate was found to be 25 per cent lower for trained farmers than non-trained ones; savings on account of seed was 19 per cent for trained farmers. Environment? Yes, healthy seeds help maintain healthy environment. For example, only 38 per cent of the trained farmers used pesticides compared to 62 per cent of control farmers. The cost of pesticides was cut to half: Tk 310/ha vs Tk 600/ha.

The project package includes research on seed health under different conditions and imparts training on the outcomes. Farmers gained knowledge on rogueing, threshing, drying, preservation and other activities that are directly or indirectly related to seed health. However, the research component embraced only 14,000 farmers from seven key sites in Bangladesh. A cost-benefit analysis shows that the total cost of the research component could be recovered with only one year of rice output of the 14,000 farmers receiving research inputs.

A production function analysis shows that farmers who participated in the research and training programmes on seed management tend to reap home, on average, about 455 kg/ha more rice than those without such training do. The function was a good fit with explanatory factors accounting for about 60 per cent of the yield changes. This means that if quality seeds had been used in 7 million hectares of land in Bangladesh in which MVs are grown, annual production could be increased by additional 3.2 million tons. This crosses by far the critical imports that the country had to bank on during a time of national distress. The additional production could feed 12.7 million people at the current rate of per capita rice consumption. Thus, the adoption of the seed quality management technology itself can supply rice for the growing population for another seven years.

DAE and development

But that would demand that the Directorate of Agricultural Extension (DAE) steps into the scene. Dr Mahabub Hossain spells out a project of how DAE could deliver the dividends to farmers. The "back of the envelope" calculus shows that training should be imparted to about 21,000 resource poor farmers on seed management. These farmers would emerge as "seed entrepreneurs" in their respective villages. To take the technology to them, again, 15,000 block supervisors would come under the umbrella of the training project spanning for five years. At the end of the project after 15 years, the discounted benefit cost ratio would stand at 62:1, That is, if we spend one taka today for training on seed management, we shall fetch home Tk 62 after 15 years. The DAE could easily claim this money from the government.

Money is not all

But money is not the only thing. DAE needs a dash and a determination to deliver the outputs. Admittedly, DAE has played a pivotal role in the past in taking rice technology (mostly variety) to farmers. It should now equally equip itself with non-rice technology transfers including rice seeds and other crops. It has to come out of its traditional tone of extension services. The government should see that logistical supports and other resources do not constrain its operations. The DAE nowadays has to compete with NGOs in reaching the resource poor and they should also face a level playing field as far as knowledge and resources are concerned.

Abdul Bayes is a Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University.