Diesel Price Hike Fallout in North: Farmers stare at huge losses
"I'm afraid I will not be able to meet the production cost of boro this year. I will try another crop next season."
The new diesel price is driving up crop production cost by at least 30 percent in Rajshahi region and the farmers are fearing huge losses.
They said harvesting of Aman, now ongoing, and winter vegetables and Boro production would be affected as the farmers mostly depend on diesel-run machines to cultivate, irrigate, and harvest.
To explain the blow they have been dealt, they said if a farmer, for instance, used to spend Tk 100 for an hour of irrigation, he or she would now need to spend Tk 130. If they had spent Tk 300 for cultivating, now they would have to spend Tk 450. If they had spent Tk 150 to transport produce of one bigha of land, now they would need to spend Tk 200, said farmers.
It does not end there.
The farmers used to pay paddy threshers with 10kg of paddy for every bigha's harvest they processed. Now the threshers are asking for 20kg.
They said that the additional burden of production cost would make them poorer.
Prof Saidur Rahman of Bangladesh Agricultural University told The Daily Star, "Farmers will suffer losses if they don't get fair prices. Their woes will compound if the price falls due to good harvest."
He said farmers are the unsung heroes. They kept on feeding the nation during the pandemic. "But their protection needs have been ignored," he said, adding that the government should immediately take steps to protect the farmers.
Farmers in the region of Chapainawabganj, Naogaon, Natore and Rajshahi depend largely on groundwater for irrigation most of the year.
According to Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), 48.50 percent of the region's 6,91,437 hectares of land, which need irrigation, rely on diesel-run pumps.
The department say that there are around 5,464 low-lift pumps, 72,696 shallow tube-wells, and 471 semi deep tube-wells in the region.
The use of combined harvesters and other machines have increased in the region over the years. There are 305 combined harvesters, 181 reapers, 27 planters, 42,771 power tillers, 1,541 tractors, and 33,518 threshers in the region that also run on diesel.
In Golai village of Rajshahi's Godagari upazila, this correspondent met reputed farmer Boltu Sarder on Monday. He was stacking his aman paddy on a tractor trailer he owns.
"I'm yet to feel the pinch of the diesel price hike as I have stock. But transport service providers have increased fares by Tk 200 for moving paddy of every bigha of land," said Sarder.
He said he was already paying extra for threshing and winnowing.
"I used to pay them 10 kilogram of paddy for threshing paddy of one bigha of land. Now they are demanding 20 kilogram.
"In crop production, the rise of diesel price has a chain reaction. To be honest, if I sit and think about the expenditure, I start to think of changing my profession," he said.
Abdul Momin, another farmer of the same village, said, "Power tiller owners used to charge Tk 300 for tilling every bigha of land once. Now they are charging Tk 450."
He said winter crops, including wheat, lentil, chickpea, and mustard, need tilling of land twice while paddy needs three times.
Abdul Hamid, a farmer from Bohora village in Tanore upazila, said he used hopper machines for winnowing paddy. Like the threshers, he said, hopper machine owners were asking for 20kg of paddy instead of 10kg for winnowing paddy of every bigha of land.
Majed Ali, a farmer of Godari's Jogpur village, said he would cultivate mustard, wheat, and lentil after harvesting Aman and before starting the production of Boro.
"But the pump owners have already increased irrigation cost by Tk 30 for every hour of irrigation," said Ali.
For preparing the land for Boro, he said, he would have to spend Tk 1,350 on power tiller for every bigha of land. The cost used to be Tk 900.
Abdul Jalil, a farmer of Chalan Beel area in Natore's Singra upazila, said, "With a good harvest being a possibility, I'm now in a dilemma over whether to go for Boro production this year."
Jalil fears fertilizer prices would go up as the price of diesel has a cascading effect.
"I'm scared of not being able to meet the production cost of Boro this year. I will try another crop."
He said he used to grow Boro on 80 bighas and needed to use at least 60 litres of diesel per bigha.
Nirmal Kumar Das of Mohor village in Tanore provides irrigation, power tiller, tractor, and threshing services to farmers.
"I have to raise the prices of every service as I'm buying diesel at a higher rate. I can't survive otherwise," he said.
Although diesel price is now about Tk 80 per litre, Nirmal buys diesel for Tk 85 a litre from local vendors in the remote Barind village under Talanda union. He has to transport the diesel to the pump at the fields, Das said.
Contacted, Sirajul Islam, additional director of the DAE Rajshahi region, said they were monitoring the reactions in the field.
The government raised diesel price by Tk 15 on November 4.