MAGURA, May 13: Farmers in Magura district are showing little interest in using the combine harvester to reap their paddy and other similar types of crop, not finding it a cost-effective solution in different considerations.
On the other hand, operators are also not so much interested to continue business running the machine, reportedly because of low profit compared to the high investment behind it.
Sources at the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Magura said they have distributed 42 combine harvesters among the farmers in the district at a 50 per cent subsidised rate.
Razab Ali, a farmer of Nanduali village under Magura sadar upazila, told the FE, "If we harvest paddy through labourers it requires Tk4,000 per bigha as against Tk1,500 by using the combine harvester. But there is a difficulty here. Stalks (Bichali) of paddy get damaged if we harvest paddy with the machine. We get at least Tk5,000 worth of stalks from one higha paddy. So use of combine harvester is not a money-saving option as we lose our stalks here."
Another farmer Akash Hossen of Kanda Bashkutha village said, "Harvester owners do not agree when we call them to harvest paddy on one or two bigha land. They only agree to use the machine when the land area is large. So marginal farmers like us do not afford to use the machine."
Belal Mreedha, who owns a combine harvester at Kazoli village under Sreepur upazila, said a combine harvester machine costs around Tk30 lakh. But the financial return from its operation
is not more than Tk4.00 lakh a year. So small financial return from the machine is disheartening.
Another machine owner Taleb Mian of Dharla village under Magura sadar upazila said, "Maintaining a combine harvester machine is difficult. When our machine faces some serious problem, we cannot repair it in Magura. In that case, we have to move to Jashore with the defective parts. It consumes our time as well as money."
On contact, Shafiqur Rahman, executive director of Palli Prokriti (a non-government organisation), said the combine harvester should be modernised so that stalks of paddy
remain undamaged after harvesting.
Moreover, the machine should be distributed following a cooperative system.
If a group is formed comprising 8 to 10 marginal farmers and the machine is
sanctioned on group basis, a substantial return from using it can be ensured.
When contacted, DAE deputy director Md Tazul Islam said the combine harvester has high demand when an acute labour crisis prevails and labourers charge high wages. However, the machine may have some demerits too.
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