Unusually low price of aman frustrates Patuakhali farmers
Unusually low market price of aman paddy at the beginning of harvesting period frustrates farmers of the district.
Visiting the paddy market at Puran Bazar in Patuakhali town a couple of days ago, this correspondent saw that tepushail, a local variety of aman, was selling for Tk 450 to 500 and kazalshail and rajashail, also local varieties, sold for Tk 500 to 575.
"I went to Puran Bazar to sell five maunds of aman paddy but returned home frustrated. I was offered only Tk 540 per maund while the production cost stood at more than Tk 700," Shahjahan, a marginal farmer of Lawkathi village under Patuakhali Sadar upazila.
"I cultivated aman paddy on five acres of land this year. Cost per acre was Tk over 12,000 including Tk 6,600 as lease money, Tk 1,500 power tiller cost, Tk 1,700 for sowing seeds, Tk 1,500 for fertilisers, over Tk 1,000 for insecticides and others," he said.
Abdul Mannan Gazi of Badarpur village under Sadar upazila said, "I cultivated paddy on four acres of land and had to take loan of Tk 20,000 from a local NGO for the purpose. But now I cannot even recover the production cost as the market price of paddy is very low."
Solaiman Bayati of Dakkhin Muradia village under Dumki upazila said he had to sell 10 maunds of aman paddy at Tk 530 per maund as he needed cash.
Production of paddy per acre of land is 18 to 20 maunds this season, he said.
Frustration grips local farmers due to low price of aman paddy in the market, said Kartik Saha, a wholesaler of paddy.
The market price is likely to rise very soon when businessmen from North Bengal will come to the region to buy aman paddy, he said.
Farmers in the area mostly cultivate paddy on their land and depend on it for livelihood.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Patuakhali, aman paddy was cultivated on 2,09,532 hectares of land, including local varieties on 1,15,372 hectares and hybrid on 94,100 hectares of land, in seven upazilas of the district this year and the department set a target to produce 5,58,091 tonnes of rice from the produce.
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