Irrigation cost hits farmersusing shallow tubewells

FE Team | Published: May 01, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Yasir Wardad
Shah Shuja, owner of four 'done' (30 decimals per 'done') of land at Chachchara Bari village in Ramnagar Union in Nilphamari district met his demand for irrigation by shallow tubewells this year. Talking to the FE, he said 20 shallow tubewells were in operation during the Boro season in his village, as there were no deep-tubewells in the area. He said it cost him nearly Tk 1450 for per 'done' of land in this Boro season. "Last year the cost was Tk 1200 to Tk 1250 and it was Tk 800 three years back," he said. According to him, the cost increased as most of the tubewells were diesel-driven. Matiul, an 'Adhiar'(share cropper) with one acre (100 decimal per acre) of land in Fulbari upazila in Dinajpur district told the FE that their irrigation cost reached a record high this year. He said most of the tubewell owners in the area have charged between Tk 3000 and Tk 3500, while the the Upazila Committee had fixed the irrigation charge between Tk 1600 and Tk 1800 this year. According to Matiul, the cost has increased by Tk 800 to Tk 1000. Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) officials told the FE that the farmers in some areas in the northern region of the country were getting the surface water irrigation for this Boro season at only Tk 200 to Tk 250 per bigha under the Teesta irrigation project. Besides the few fortunate farmers, most of the farmers in the country have paid a large sum for irrigation. A recent study of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) shows that only five per cent of the total cultivated area in Bangladesh is covered by major irrigation projects. According to the ADB study, the cost under minor irrigation units falls in higher ranges. A high official at Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) told the FE that excluding the operating and maintaining costs, the tubewell operators were charging much more than a justifiable cost. According to the BADC rate this year, the deep tubewell and low-lift pump operators can charge between Tk 1000 and Tk 1500 for providing irrigation to an acre of land. And the irrigation using gravity flow and double-lifting techniques can cost Tk 400 and Tk 200 respectively. According to a study, jointly conducted by Mahabub Hossain and Uttam Kumar Dev for the Centre for Policy Dialogue in 2003, irrigation in Bangladesh accounts for 28 per cent of the total costs of rice cultivation. The ratio is 13 per cent in Punjab of India, 8 per cent in Thailand and 6 per cent in Vietnam, the study shows. Mr Mahabub and Mr Uttam pointed out the factor that the low cost of irrigation in other countries is mostly due to the subsidised supply of electricity, like in India, and the subsidised public sector investment in the construction, operation and maintenance of large-scale irrigation projects. Compared to this, the major source of irrigation in Bangladesh is the privately owned shallow tubewells and power pumps, mostly run by diesel, the study revealed. BADC records in 2010 show that the costs of electricity for irrigation using deep tubewells and shallow tubewells were Tk 1873 and Tk 1940 respectively per hectare of land. The costs of diesel for irrigation using the same equipment were Tk 6517 and Tk 9139. BADC records also show that only 16.51 per cent of the minor irrigation units were operated by electricity in 2010. According to the Centre of Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), nearly 1000 million litres of diesel is used for irrigation in the country every year.