Paddy price fall upsets Lalmonirhat farmers
The prices of paddy have fallen sharply in absence of buyers in the local markets, much to the frustration of growers in the district.
Now they are worried about recovery of their production cost, let alone profit.
“I sold 20 maunds of paddy at Tk 600 per maund only a month back, but I sold 8 maunds of the same paddy at Tk 480 at Durakuti Hat in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila on Tuesday,” said Habibur Rahman, 55, a farmer of Karnapur village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila."The paddy and rice procurement drive by the government's food department does not have any impact on the market. As the rice mill owners are selling old rice to the government warehouses after refining it, they need not purchase paddy from the farmers for making rice,” said paddy grower Ashraf Ali, 48, of Kulaghat village in the same upazila.
“We have to sell paddy for low prices due to need of money to meet family requirements,” said Soleman Ali, 60, of Bhelabari village of Aditmari upazila.
Rice trader Nurnabi Miah, 45, of Durakuti Hat in Lalmonirhat Sadar said, they are not buying much paddy from the growers due to lack of demand from the merchants and rice mill owners.
There are huge stocks of paddy in the merchants' godowns and it resulted in price fall of paddy in the local market, he added.
The food department officials in the district said they started purchasing paddy and rice from the growers and millers with the target of procuring 1068 tonnes of rice and 14,274 tonnes of paddy this season.
Around 3,25,000 tonnes of paddy have been produced from 57,000 hectares of land during this current boro season, said Safayet Hossain, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture Extension in Lalmonirhat.
"It costs Tk 550 to 600 for producing one maund of paddy, but farmers are now selling it at Tk 420 to 500 per maund. They will lose interest in paddy cultivation if fair price is not ensured. It is necessary to increase the amount of government's paddy procurement directly from the growers," he said.
Contacted, Golam Mawla, district food controller, declined to talk with the journalists about the food procurement without permission from the director general of food department.
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