A good year in agriculture
IT is reassuring that Bangladesh has passed quite a good year in agriculture through increasing food production coupled with relatively stable prices of rice and vegetables. Boro rice, the principal crop, hit a record high at 1.90cr tonnes while the production forecast shows that the country is likely to harvest 5.6 crore tonnes of paddy and wheat in the outgoing year. This reflects 1.6 percent increase year-on-year. Favourable weather, diversification of farm production, stable price of diesel and fertilizers and government support are some of the contributing factors behind these bumper yields. As a result, food inflation along with overall inflation came down.
Amid this celebration of bumper production, fair price to farmers remains a far cry. Political instability, weak marketing infrastructure, extortions on highways, inadequate storage facilities are the major factors to be blamed. It is quite baffling to know that despite increased production, rice imports continued spiraling fetching low price to farmers.
To maintain buoyancy in production, the government should pay attention to improving the marketing system, bringing new and effective agricultural technologies, ensuring fair prices and giving incentives to growers. As an immediate task, the government should control rice import and reduce diesel prices as the oil prices have fallen in the global market. The private sector should also come forward in establishing cold warehouse and cold chain transport facilities. Above all, political parties should be committed to keeping the life-line of production out of political conflicts.
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