Paddy prices dip Tk 100 in Aditmari
Rice growers in Lalmonirhat are feeling distressed after paddy prices in Aditmari, one of five upazilas in the district, fell below their average cost of production in a span of only two weeks.
In mid-December, they sold a maund of paddy for around Tk 670 at local markets, including Bhelabari rice market in Aditmari, against the production cost of Tk 600 each maund.
But on January 3, the price dropped to Tk 560 per maund at the markets.
Farmer Fazlul Haque from Bhelabari village in the upazila harvested 135 maunds of paddy from 10 bighas of land this season. After going to Bhelabari rice market on that day with 20 maunds of paddy, the rice traders there paid him only Tk 560 for each maund.
“I don’t know why the paddy prices keep falling,” wondered Fazlul.
Another rice farmer, Nabin Chandra Barmon, from Doljor village in the same upazila, was at the same market that day.
He said, he got Tk 16,750 for 25 maunds of paddy at Tk 670 for each maund, but at the same market, the price came down to only Tk 560.
“I had hoped that the price would go up, but it fell even lower than it was a couple of weeks back,” said the farmer who received a total yield of 208 maunds of paddy from 15 bighas of land this Aman season.
The fall of price below the production cost will discourage farmers from growing paddy in the upcoming season, said Sekendar Ali, a farmer from Hajiganj village of the upazila.
At the present rate, a rice farmer would incur a loss of at least Tk 2500 to Tk 3000 out of each bigha of land, he also said.
Asked about the reason of the price fall, a paddy trader, Atiar Rahman, at Bhelabari rice market, said they could not pay a higher price to rice growers as they were getting low prices from paddy merchants from different districts.
“The paddy prices fell as no paddy merchants from other districts are coming to the market for paddy. Besides, rice prices also fell at local markets,” he explained.
Nur Islam, another trader at the market, said rice mill owners were not procuring paddy at the moment, resulting in a huge stockpile of paddy in their warehouses and that also contributed to the decline in prices of paddy.
As an evident result of falling demands, the prices of paddy might fall further within a month, he speculated.
This paddy harvest season, a total of 3,83,800 tonnes of paddy was produced on 65,290 hectares of land in five upazilas in Lalmonirhat.
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