Bid to cut production cost
Badly hit by losses over the Boro paddy lately, farmers in Dinajpur are now avoiding engaging labourers in a bid to cut cost and recoup the losses by cultivating early variety od Aman.
Family members of the farmers are doing the chores like sowing seeds, spraying pesticides and irrigating land by themselves. For the work, farmers otherwise paid Tk 3,000 per yard to day labourers.
Manik Hossain of Dewrtoil village under Dinajpur Sadar has cultivated Aman paddy on one acre of land. In the last Boro season, he had spent Tk 13,000 on labourers, but now he and four of his family members were collecting Aman harvests.
Prices of paddy plummeted in the market during Boro season, said the farmers.
“Millers did not buy paddy from us as they had rice from previous Aman season stored,” said Manik. “I had to sell one bag (77 kilogram) of paddy at Tk 850 to Tk 900 whereas the expected rate was Tk 1,200.”
Boro season spreads over four months from the end of February every year while Aman season starts in August.
According to DAE Dinajpur, Boro crops were cultivated on about 1.74 lakh hectares of land and the district saw a yield of 7.29 lakh tonnes during the season.
About 2.59 lakh hectares have been cultivated for the Aman variety now with a production target of 7.80 lakh tonnes. But the district has seen harvests from only two percent of the cultivated land so far, said DAE officials.
During a recent visit to Rajabasar village in Parbatipur upazila, this correspondent found an elderly man Hamidul Islam putting fertilisers on his land with assistance from his sister Roksana.
“He cannot do such a laborious task alone so I am helping him,” said Roksana.
With a hope of profit, Hamidul has cultivated Aman paddy on 50 decimals of land.
“There was no profit in last Boro season. All my six family members are now working on field as well as taking up other part-time tasks to recoup the loss.”
“Most farmers are now in a soup as they could not clear the debts taken during Boro cultivation. Many have taken fresh loans to start Aman cultivation,” said Azizul Haque, a farmer of Uttar Gosaipur village in Sadar upazila.
This correspondent talked to 39 farmers in different upazilas of the northern district.
They said they could not supply paddy to the government during the last procurement drive. They urged the government to collect the produces from farmers not millers.
Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman, food controller in Dinajpur, said 13,461 tonnes of paddies were collected from 16,508 farmers whereas the district has 4.5 lakh farmers.
He went on saying that 85,047 tonnes of boiled rice were procured from 2,354 millers while 8,784 tonnes of Atap rice were procured from 121 millers.
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