Discouraged by aman losses, boro farmers opt for other crops
Aman farmers coming to sell their produce at Bhelabari Haat in Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat district often wait for hours as the market sees only a few customers while the prices are also too scanty to even realise the production cost.Photo: STAR
A large number of boro farmers in several northern districts are opting for other crops due to low market prices of paddy and its higher production cost. Boro farming in Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts is likely to decline as the cultivation target of wheat and potato have already exceeded in the current robi season, reports our Thakurgaon correspondent. The situation has arisen as farmers incurred losses despite good yield of paddy during the recent aman season, said officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). During a recent visit to different villages in Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts, this correspondent saw that many farmers have cultivated wheat and potato on the lands where they usually cultivated irri-boro paddy. "I incurred loss of Tk 7,500 by cultivating boro on three bighas of leased land as I had to sell paddy only at Tk 325 per maund (each maund is equal to 37.3242 kilogram) in the last boro harvesting period. This year I have cultivated wheat on the lands to recover my losses," said Md Shamsuzzoha, 50, a farmer of Sahapara village under Boda upazila in Panchagarh. Wheat farming, requiring only three times irrigation, is easy to cultivate and it has lower production cost than that of IRRI-Boro, he added. This season the DAE has fixed a target of boro cultivation on 60,802 hectares with the production target of 2 lakh 35,426 tonnes of rice in Thakurgaon and 34,322 hectares of land with the production target of 1 lakh 34,463 tonnes of rice in Panchagarh. The target, however, does not seem to be fulfilled as preparation of boro saplings on seed-beds remain much below the expectation. The seed-beds might be increased a little area as the time of preparing seed-bed is till first week of January, DAE officials said. In last season, 2 lakh 74,434 tonnes of boro rice was produced by cultivating 66,449 hectares of land in Thakurgaon while 1 lakh 66,898 tonnes was produced by cultivating 41,170 hectares of land in Panchagarh district. Boro farmers are now leaning towards wheat and potato cultivation due to lower market price of paddy, said Md Belayet Hossain, deputy director of the DAE. Our Lalmonirhat Correspondent reports: Farmers in the district have to sell paddy at prices lower than the production cost as they need the cash to cultivate boro paddy in this current season. Now one maund of paddy (one maund equal 40 kg) is selling between Tk 460 to 520 in the local market, but the production cost stood between Tk 600 to 630, said Shomser Ali, 48, Manik Chandro Barmon, 55, Motiar Rahman, 58, Ariful Islam, 48, Gopinath Pal, 45, who came to Bhelabari Haat in Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat to sell their paddy. “I have sold 20 maunds of paddy at Tk 490 per maund as I need the money for farming boro paddy in the current season,†said farmer Taher Ullah, 65, of Durakuti village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila. Visiting different markets in Lalmonirhat district, this correspondent saw farmers waiting for hours with paddy for sale as only a small number of buyers are available and the price is too low. Nazrul Islam, paddy buyers at Kalibari in Lalmonirhat town, said, “I cannot give much price to the growers as big merchants do not purchase paddy for fair prices from me.†Asadul Islam, a big merchant at Uttora Cinema Hall Road in the town said, "There is huge stock of paddy in my godowns. Despite fall of rice price in the market traders from capital Dhaka and other parts of the country are not contacting us for taking paddy at the moment. And so, we the paddy merchants in Lalmonirhat can't purchase paddy from the retailers and growers.†Farmers of five upazilas under Lalmonirhat district cultivated aman paddy on 97,650 hectares of land against the target 83,560 hectares in the recent season, Lalmonirhat DAE sources said. "Due to favourable weather Lalmonirhat farmers got bumper production of aman paddy this season but they are frustrated due to its low price. It is highly necessary to create marketing facilities for agriculture productions,†Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila Agriculture Officer Mohammad Nuruzzaman said.
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