Joy of Eid eludes farmers
Because of low prices, Allam Hossain decided not to sell his paddy but rather wait for the situation to improve. However, as Eid was around the corner, he went out to the local market with 30kg of mangoes from his four trees.
But none of those sold, and the 45-year-old farmer of Edolpur village of Rajshahi’s Godagari upazila returned home empty-handed.
“Nobody even asked about the price,” Allam said. “I took the fruits to the market twice, and faced the same situation every time. Mangoes were not in demand before the Eid.”
Still, the farmer found a way of managing the Eid expenses, but it would require him to sell half the paddy he had harvested this boro season. So, with no alternative left, he borrowed and bought 2kg of beef to have a delicacy on Eid day.
Allam could at least manage some beef, but most farmers could not.
Apart from low paddy prices, a steep fall in litchi and mango prices during Eid shocked many of Rajshahi’s farmers and dampened their celebrations. Having delicious food or presenting new clothes to children became a luxury to them.
Farmers said it took them at least Tk 800 to grow one maund (40kg) of boro paddy, but the selling price barely crossed Tk 650.
One hundred litchis were sold at Tk 350 last year. A week ago, the price was Tk 250, and it fell to Tk 100-150 ahead of the Eid. Mangoes, which used to bring Tk 1,800 every maund were sold for Tk 1,000-1,200 before the festival.
At Edolpur village, many litchi farmers had to go back home from the local market without selling enough to cover their Eid expenses.
Since Rajshahi region is one of the major suppliers of paddy, litchi and mango, their falling prices have hit the farmers hard ahead of Eid.
At Haripur village of Poba upazila, almost every vacant corner was seen filled with piles of freshly-harvested paddy.
When this correspondent called out Shahjahan Ali, a share cropper of the village, he came out of home clipping the buttons of his fading grey shirt.
Asked how he spent his Eid, a distressed Shahjahan said, “Eid bears no meaning for farmers. This is just like any other day.”
The only difference was he bought vermicelli and a fish for his family.
Shahjahan harvested 11 maunds of paddy, and buyers offered him no more than Tk 600 per maund.
“If I sell one maund, I can buy 1kg of beef. There would be no money left to buy the spices needed for cooking it,” he said.
“And if I sell all the paddy, what will I eat for the rest of the year?”
He is also waiting for the price to increase, and limited the family’s cele-brations only to a sweat dish of vermicelli and fish curry.
Other share croppers of the village had similar stories to tell.
At Edolpur village, 25km from Rajshahi city, this correspondent saw Ba-by Khatun, wife of farmer Shahjahan Monu, frying gourd on Eid day.
“I cooked chicken and polao. Now I’m frying the gourd to add another dish,” she said, talking to this correspondent.
She was clad in a red cotton sari while her school-going daughter wore a cheap red-white dress.
“My husband bought us the clothes in last Eid. These dresses still look new because we seldom wore them. He couldn’t buy us any new dress this year.”
The family got 10.5 maunds of paddy this season. Baby Khatun said, “If we could sell some of it at a fair price, our Eid would be joyous.”
Unlike Allam or Monu, Soiyabur Rahman is a fairly solvent farmer of the village. He, too, held off sales and stacked 52 maunds of paddy on the courtyard.
The farmer had to borrow Tk 20,000 for Eid expenses because he went broke after marrying off his only daughter just ahead of the festival.
A distraught Soiyabur said, “Low prices have broken the backbone of paddy farmers. I’m afraid whether I would cultivate paddy anymore.”