Impact of Low Paddy Prices: Farming in haors not worth it
Frustrated by the low price of rice since May, marginal farmers in the haor areas of Sunamganj are not showing any interest in leasing land for Boro production.
Tenant farmers usually lease land during the Bangla month of Bhadra and Ashwin, corresponding to September and October, to prepare the fields for cultivation.
However, they are not willing to invest in rice production because many farmers could not recover the production cost of last season by selling their crops after harvest in April, locals said.
This is also affecting farmers who lease out their land, locals added.
Monir Mia, a farmer of Sripur village in Tanguar Haor under Tahirpur upazila has decided to change his profession after incurring loss in rice production.
“I will go to Tahirpur upazila town and pull rickshaw rather than toil in farmland and end up with a huge loss,” he grieved.
“I had leased one acre of land for Tk 10,000 to cultivate BRRI Dhan-29 rice and my average cost of production was Tk 750 per maund [about 40kg],” he said.
“I could not sell my paddy to the government. Those who are associated with political leaders sold their paddy for Tk 1040 per maund, the price fixed by the government,” he added.
Monir’s name did not come up in the list of farmers from whom the government procured paddy as an incentive to farmers.
In Sunamganj, 3.84 lakh farmers produced 13.18 lakh tonnes of paddy this Boro season, but the government planned to procure only 17,353 tonnes from 25,000 farmers, according to the district food office and Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).
Last month, Monir sold 60 maunds of rice for Tk 590 per pound to a local dealer incurring a loss of about Tk 160 per maund.
Bilal Ahmed from the same area said he had invested about Tk 2 lakh by taking loans from different NGOs for rice production but received only Tk 1.5 lakh after selling the paddy.
Now he is facing problems in repaying the loan with interest, he said.
Marginal farmers’ disinterest in leasing land for rice cultivation is affecting farmers with land, like Mohan Biswas of Noagaon village in Shalla upazila.
He said, “Last year, I leased out five acres of my land for a year for Tk 60,000. This time I am offering the yearly lease for Tk 30,000 and still no one is taking the lessee. What would I do with this land now?”
Mohan added that hiring labour to work on his land was not cost effective.
Al-Amin Chowdhury, chairman of Shalla Upazila Parishad and general secretary of Shalla upazila Awami League, said, “Last year, I got Tk 8,000 per acre of land by leasing out land for a year in Boro season. But this year no one is agreeing to pay even Tk 3,000 per acre.
“No one is interested in cultivating this year after incurring a huge loss.”
According to Sunamganj Agricultural Extension Department, around 2,24,040 hectares were used for Boro cultivation last year.
Zakaria Mostafa, food controller of Sunamganj said, both the capacity of storing paddy in district warehouses and purchase target of paddy by the government should be increased.
He said at district level they have no power to decide how much paddy would be purchased. Such targets were decided by higher authorities, he added.
He noted that although the government fixed paddy prices at Tk 1,040 per maund, the market price was between Tk 500 and Tk 600 per maund.
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