Rice price fall worries Dinajpur farmers

Paddy growers with the produce wait at Farmhat market in Dinajpur Sadar upazila but lack of customers and declining prices of the crop make them worried about recovery of the production cost, let alone profit. Photo: STAR

Rice price in local markets has continued to fall alarmingly for over two weeks, much to the worry of farmers in the district famous for rice production.
A majority of growers, who had planted popular BR-28 variety of paddy with the hope of getting good prices, are now counting losses despite bumper production of the crop, farmers said.
"I sold off my last stock of paddy at Farmhat rice market in Dinajpur Sadar upazila on Wednesday morning. I got Tk 6,850 for 15 maunds (one maund = 40 kg) of paddy whereas I sold the same amount for Tk 7,100 last week," said Rafiqul Islam, 35, a farmer of Gorea village under Kaharol upazila of Dinajpur.
Rafique, who produced 90 maunds of paddy on three bighas of leased land, said he handed over 42 maunds of paddy as payment to the land owner according to the agreement. He sold remaining 48 maunds of paddy at the local markets for around Tk 24,000 but the cultivation and harvesting cost him Tk 25,000.
Each 75kg sack of paddy sold for Tk 950 to 1020 at the local market on Wednesday, while the price was around 1,100 last week, he said.
"I sold paddy at Tk 1,200 per sack last year when the production cost was less than this year's," he added.
Sumon Basak, a middleman found at Farmhat rice market, said he purchased 70 sacks of paddy at Tk 1020 per sack this week while it was Tk 1050 last week.
He termed the market price as 'reasonable' compared to last year's.
Zahangir Alam, a farmer of Uttar Shibpur village in Dinajpur Sadar upazila, who cultivated paddy on 13 bighas of land this year, said, "Despite bumper production (41.13 maunds per bigha), I have to incur losses due to high production cost and less price at the local market. I spent around Tk 12,000 for cultivation on each bigha but I am facing loss of Tk 3,000 per bigha."
"We are left at the mercy of a syndicate of traders, particularly the rice mill owners, who are the bulk buyers of this paddy, while the government has not taken any initiative to solve the problem," said Zahangir, who came to Panchbari rice market to sell his produce.
Besides, huge quantities of Indian rice are being imported through Hili land port for the last couple of months and it has led to fall of rice price in the northern region, sources said.
Due to the price fall, the growers are not being able to realise even their production cost, said local farmers.
In Dinajpur, one of the biggest paddy producing areas in the northern region, around 1.8 lakh hectares of land has been brought under rice cultivation this season with production target of 3.84 tonnes per hectare, said officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension.
The target has exceeded much as production stood at around 4.00 tonnes.