High yield of 'BRRI dhan 77' fails to make Patuakhali farmers happy
The production of Aman paddy in the district exceeded the target this season, but farmers are upset at the low price in the markets.
Sunil Chandra Biswas, a marginal farmer of Sultanabad village in Mirzaganj upazila, cultivated BRRI dhan-77 variety of Aman paddy on his 50 decimals of land this year and got four tonnes (4,000 kg) of paddy.
Sunil is very happy as he got bumper yield, which is a record yield in the area 12 km from Mirzaganj upazila town.
On seeing Sunil's success, many local farmers expressed their interest for cultivating this variety of Aman paddy.
Patuakhali Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Deputy Director (DD) Hridoyeshor Datta, Upazila Agriculture Officer Md Nazrul Islam and Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officer Akhtaruzzaman, were present, among others, when Sunil harvested the crop. They saw the bumper yield and expressed their happiness.
“It is a new variety of Aman paddy and farmers get good yield at very low cost. Local farmers are showing their interest to cultivate this variety on their lands,” said Hridoyeshor Datta.
A total of 2.02 hectares of land were brought under Aman cultivation this year and the target was to produce 4.37 lakh tonnes of rice, the DD said.
There was bumper yield in all areas in the district due to timely rainfall, favourable weather and absence of disasters like storm, cyclone and tidal surge, he added.
Though they got bumper yield, local farmers are being deprived due to very low price in the local markets. They are frustrated as they are not able to recover the production cost by selling the Aman paddy in the local market.
Aslam Fakir, a marginal farmer of Buria village under Sadar upazila, said he sold his paddy at Tk 620 per maund at nearby Hajirhat, while the production cost was Tk 700 to Tk 720 per maund.
“I have no alternative but to sell the paddy at low price as I have to pay back the money I borrowed from relatives during cultivation,” he said.
Agriculture department and food department officials said farmers are not getting proper price as the government buys a very small quantity of rice.
Though DAE fixed a target of 4.37 lakh tonnes rice production in the district, the government bought only 9,408 tonnes from the district this year, depriving farmers of the proper price.
In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the food department bought 4,374 tonnes of Aman and 9,457 tonnes of Boro rice from the district.
The department collected 22,169 tonnes of rice from northern districts to meet the demands of various government programmes for fishermen and ultra-poor families, and to supply ration to police and Ansar personnel.
The government has to spend Tk 6.65 crore to transport the rice, said Shafiqul Islam, acting district controller of food. The authorities should buy more rice from this district to ensure proper price to the farmers as well as to save money on transportation, he suggested.
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