Encourage rice cultivation

We have learnt from a report that Aman was cultivated on 10,84,074 hectares of land in 2011 and on 10,24,068 hectares of land in 2012 in eight districts under Rangpur Agricultural Zone. That means the area of Aman cultivation in this season sees a decrease by 60,006 hectares of land in these districts. And this is because farmers could not make expected profit last year. Moreover, farmers are worried in this season because of high cost of fertilisers, seeds, and other agricultural inputs.
However, this trend will not bring any good for the nation rather it would create food crisis. Farmers incur losses due to the failure of the government, because it could not implement an effective marketing strategy for making paddy cultivation profitable.
The government has planned to export rice to boost prices for growers. At present the average retail price of coarse rice is Tk 25 a kg, while the production cost per kg is said to be Tk 26.50. It may be mentioned that in 1981 the government exported 10,000 tonnes of rice. At present, Bangladesh exports aromatic rice but only at certain times. We have heard that the government also plans for making aromatic rice a regular export product. The government wants to cultivate aromatic rice at such amount that it can be exported all the year round, as its price is higher in the world market.
We thank the government for the plan and urge them to implement it without delay. Otherwise, we fear that next year paddy cultivation would decrease further.