Farmers happy, labourers upset

Farmers are happy but farm labourers are very upset over the use of mobile paddy threshers in the district.

Farmers have started using threshers as they do away with the need to hire labourers and also reduce the cost of paddy threshing.

Farmer Sumon Chandra Roy, 48, of Chaparhat village said he spent Tk 400 for threshing paddy on one bigha of land by a mobile paddy thresher, but it needs Tk 600 to Tk 700 to do the same work by farm labourers. The operators of the threshers offer their service by going to the farmers' doors, he added.

"We can save time by using threshers and there is also less chance of damage to the paddy," said farmer Abdul Jalil.

Farmer Nabir Uddin, 68, of Bhadai village in Aditmari upazila said, "Of course, the machine is benefiting us, but farm labourers are very upset."

Farm labourer Subodh Chandra Barman, 50, of Chandrapur village in Kaliganj upazila said they are hired for harvesting paddy from the field, but not for threshing as farmers have started using machines for doing that. "The paddy thresher is our enemy as it has taken away our job," he added.

"We are not getting hired for threshing paddy this year as mobile paddy threshers have become very popular among the farmers in the village," said Hazrat Ali, 45, of Karnapur village in Lalmonirhat Sadar. "The machine is benefitting farmers, but taking away our livelihood," he added.

Joynal Hossain, 44, owner of a mobile paddy thresher in Kaliganj upazila, said it needs only one hour to thresh paddy of one bigha of land, whereas two labourers need one day for the same work. "Two litres of diesel are needed for running the thresher for one hour," he said, adding that there are eight machines in his village.

Owner Nur Islam, 50, of Lalmonirhat Sadar said there are at least 300 paddy threshers in five upazilas and each machine costs Tk 80 thousand to Tk 90 thousand.