A right decision
The decision of the government to subsidise agriculture inputs by Tk 3,000 crores, mostly for agriculture machinery, has not come a day too soon. That and the decision to provide 30 percent incentive for rice exporters would partly help ameliorate the distress of the farmers. Apart from our farmers being hostage to nature, oftentimes they find themselves in a catch-22 situation. In our country the farmers are damned if they have a poor season and damned if they have a good harvest. And in the case of the latter happening, they become hostage to the middlemen, who take their pound of flesh for the loan they provide to farmers to tide over the bad times. And despite the fact the government has brought the market close to the farmers doorstep by opening purchase centres all over the country, either the purchase price is low, or the government purchase policy is irrational.
This has been a constant scenario in respect to the boro farmers in particular. And every boro season, either there is delay in the government procurement drive or the amount of paddy it decides to procure is only a fraction of what is produced. And this year to top it all the government has decided to buy from the millers on the very ludicrous and flimsy ground that paddy takes up more space than rice.
Whatever may be the policy of the government—incentives for export or agriculture subsidies—unless the middlemen are completely marginalised, if not entirely removed, from the equation, farmers will remain hostage to what is patently a buyers' market. Not only do they treat the farmers unfairly, they distort the market too. A bumper harvest does not see the concomitant level of price decrease in the retail market. In short, they are the ones who pocket all the profits. And this is what the government should also address seriously.
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