Aman production cost is likely to rise significantly this season in the 16 northern districts due to higher prices of fertilisers and other farm inputs, according to a Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) field level survey.
Asked about this, DAE officials in Bogra said production cost of Aman rice this season has been estimated at Tk 28.80 per kg on an average in the northern region compared Tk 20.79 per kg last season.
And production cost of Aman paddy, which was Tk 14.20 a kg last season, might go up by Tk 5.40 a kg this season.
Price rise of fertilisers, fuel, pesticide, seeds and other inputs and higher wages of farm workers account for the increased cost of Aman cultivation, the officials said.
Farmers will have to bear an additional expenditure of about Tk 3,500 crore this season to achieve the targeted production of Aman rice, said the DAE officials.
Production target of Aman rice has been fixed at about 43.31 lakh tonnes with 17.18 lakh hectares of land under Aman cultivation in the northern districts this season.
DAE estimates said farmers in the region will have to spend about Tk 12,473,crore for Aman cultivation this season as against about Tk 9,004 crore last season to produce nearly the same quantity of rice.
Production cost has risen to Tk 72,613 per hectare this season from Tk 52,581 last season.
A senior DAE official mentioned that price of Triple Super Phosphate (TSP) has risen to around Tk 73 per kg from Tk 28 over the last few months. Cost of seeds has increased to Tk 1,020 per hectare from about Tk 750 during this period.
Farmer Mohammed Ali of village Tarafsartaj in Gabtoli upazila of Bogra told this correspondent that he had spent Tk 1,875 for TSP fertiliser for cultivating Aman crop on one hectare of land last season, but this time he has spent about Tk 3,750 for TSP for the same land. Besides, pesticide cost him Tk 200, which is double that of last season.
Another farmer, Badiuzzman of village Gordaha in the same upazila said he spent about Tk 16,500 for Aman cultivation in more than one hectare of land last season using required fertilisers and other inputs. “ But this year I have cultivated Aman paddy on the same land without using TSP and some other necessary inputs, spending Tk 22,500.”