Time to step up for the farmers

In spite of their role in providing food security for the country as a whole, farmers of this land have long been neglected and overlooked by those in power. It seems like the policymakers neither have an understanding of the hard work that farmers do nor do they sympathise with the current situation of the farmers for which bad policies, favouring vested interests, etc. are to blame.

Farmers are now going through a crisis. They are having to sell each maund of paddy for Tk 580-850 whereas they had initially estimated that they’d earn Tk 1,200-1,350 per maund of paddy. They also have to trade via middlemen who further exploit their vulnerable position which only adds to farmers’ losses.

While we are busy singing praises of the development of the country, farmers—who work relentlessly to make this development possible and who have an integral role to play in this process—go unnoticed. It is frustrating that despite all the hard work farmers put in all year round, they are not able to reap the benefits of their work, even when harvest is booming.

All these problems could easily be solved if the greedy middlemen were removed from the process. The long-lasting culture of procuring paddy from middlemen is understandable but this needs to change now. The government should see it from the perspective of the farmers and make policies that benefit them.