Not fit for hill areas

Paddy thresher machine 'mini combined harvester' is not able to gain popularity among Khagrachhari farmers despite getting it at 50% less than the actual price.

According to officials of Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Khagrachhari, five kinds of agro based machinery were provided to the hill farmers at fifty percent less than the actual price of Tk 7 lakh under crop production enhancement project.

But in the last three years of the project, only two farmers of the district have bought the mini combined harvester, said Mohammad Safar Uddin, deputy director of Khagrachhari DAE, adding that the machine can thresh huge quantity of paddy in less time.

The project started across the country in 2015-16 fiscal year,, he said.

It happened because paddy land in the hills is not flat. This machine is not suitable for the hill area, he said.

Supon Khisa, a farmer of Itchari village in Sadar upazila, who bought a mini combined harvester, said the plots of the hill land are small in size. Each plot is divided by high ridge. There are also small or large channels in the middle of the paddy fields.

Due to this, farmers are not interested in buying mini combined harvester despite getting subsidy from the government, said Supon.