In fact, political turmoil and labour unrest in the sector that has been the mainstay of the country's foreign exchange earning with a share of an overwhelming 85 per cent of the total came hand in hand, casting an ominous shadow on the economy. The way the labour unrest has been suppressed does hardly give the impression of a settlement of the problem to the mutual satisfaction of the parties involved ---workers and owners of garment factories.
What is particularly agonising is that disgruntled workers with little bargaining power can never consider themselves an inalienable part of the industry and are unlikely to put in their best. The management has the power to dictate terms when it comes to relations between it and workers. Intriguingly, foreign buyers who espouse better industrial working environment and labour rights and relations are unwilling to pay a little more so that workers' wages can be raised to a decent level. Accepted that they are also facing an economic slump but an extra cent on an article of garment can go a long way to bring about a discernible improvement to the workers' wage structure.
Indications are that anything of this order is unlikely to happen soon. Rather, to go by the European Union (EU) team's observation and the US stand on labour right here, things may get complicated and worse for the apparel industry. The news on the remittance front is also not very encouraging. If there is a twin setback the economy is destined to suffer, the prospect of the country's recovery recedes further into the distant horizon.
What then is left for the nation to fall back upon? The unanimous answer would be the country's agriculture that has steadily done better to feed the nation. Research, experiment and successful implementation of the laboratory results at the field level have brought about a paradigm shift in the country's agriculture. The achievement in this sector is really enviable. On this count, agricultural scientists have made the nation proud. The government policy support also helped the matter. But the real heroes have been the multitudes of farmers who have made the green revolution possible.
But alas! they are the most neglected lot and has systematically been deprived of the reward they deserve. Right now as the external phenomena pose a threat to the country's economy, the internal environment fraught with political violence, arson and sabotage deals a literally mortal blow to the farmers growing particularly perishable produce. The news is that the Rajshahi belt known for growing vegetables and other cash crops including fruits as well as for fish farming has been hit hard by the political programmes of repeated hartals and blockades.
In the Rajshahi region, a total of 500,000 metric tonnes of vegetables is grown, most of which is supplied to other areas of the country including the capital. Similarly, fish production from 50,720 ponds, 11 rivers, 67 beels (marshy land), 167 canals and other water bodies of the nine upazilas of Rajshahi accounts for 87,270 metric tonnes. A contemporary reports that vegetable farmers are counting losses for various reasons. The perishable produce has to sustain 20-25 per cent damage in normal time because of a lack of modern preservation facilities. With the instances of setting vegetable-carrying trucks on fire, the supply line has met with a reversal causing damages and losses. Prices have registered a drastic fall in the local market and the carrying cost has gone up too, forcing farmers to incur losses.
In case of fish, only 50 truck-load of those, as against 250 trucks in normal time, a day can be sent to different parts of the country. Abnormal price fall for all kinds of fish and higher truck fare are becoming responsible for a loss of Tk 50,000 on each such truck. Fish farms have been forced to abandon their daily catch but they are confronting a double whammy of price slump and the suddenly hiked prices of fish feed which is a must for survival of fish raised under the controlled farming.
All farmers are reeling from the undesirable market disruption, the marginal among them are only more so. Because traders from other districts have stopped arriving to procure vegetables from fields, the small farmers are made to dispose of their produce at throw-away prices. Large farmers can hire trucks at higher costs to send their produce ---albeit on a limited scale.
The picture is representative of the situation now farmers everywhere find themselves in. It is true for vegetable and fruit producers of Jashore, Barishal, Khulna, Cumilla and Chattogram. Thus the combined adverse impact on agricultural produce, particularly perishable items is sure to hurt farmers' income gravely as well as the national economy beyond all measures. Why not exempt vehicles carrying agricultural and food items from the purview of hartal and blockade? This is the least political parties can do in order to avoid damaging further the prospect of food security for the vulnerable in society.
nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com