2011 sees a sad year for the peasantry
Sunday, 1 January 2012
Yasir Wardad
The calendar year 2011 gifted the country with a robust agricultural production but the peasantry was deprived of fair price in almost every crop they produced, farmers and officials said.
The farmers started the year 2011 with a godsend by getting handsome price of Aman rice in November-December period in 2010 and that was the end.
For the rest of the year, for their farm produce including rice, jute, potato, vegetables and spices, farmers failed to get even production costs, according to the farmers and reports published and viewed in the media.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) officials told the FE that the country produced 18.65 million tonnes of Boro rice, 2.3 million tones of Aus rice, 8.46 million tonnes of jute and 8.32 million tonnes of potato while the target of producing 13.3 million tonnes of Aman rice from 5.63 million hectares may be exceeded this year.
Farmers across the country have been selling Aman paddy at a rate between Tk 550 and Tk 570 per maund, which is much below the production cost calculated by the agriculture ministry at Tk 600 per maund in 2011.
Md Helal Bepari, a farmer in Uzirpur upazila in Barisal district, told the FE that Aman paddy sold between Tk 550 and Tk 575 per maund (40 kg in the region) in Barisal district.
He said, he got around 40 maunds of paddy from his 5.0 Jaistos (1 Jaisto=20 decimals) of land while it cost him around Tk 22,500 for production.
Md Helal said it cost him more than Tk 550 to get one maund of paddy but he sold his produce at Tk 530 to Tk 540 in the first week of December.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) estimated that the production cost of Aman increased by 13.64 per cent this season, while the 'Mokam' sources (local wholesale market of agriculture produce) said that Aman paddy price came down by 25 to 30 per cent in this harvesting season compared to the price in 2010.
Boro
Farmers sold Boro rice (hybrid) at Tk 450 to Tk 480 per maund and HYV at Tk 530 to Tk580 per maund against the production cost of more than Tk 600 per maund between the last week of April and Mid-June 2011.
After the declaration of procuring rice by the government in the last week of May, (while the operation began in June 5), the market price of paddy began to increase, but farmers already had sold their produce then.
Jute
After getting a handsome price of jute in 2010 the farmers were encouraged to increase the production of jute this year, but expectation turned a nightmare as jute price fell drastically across the country.
Higher quality jute was sold between Tk 1300 to Tk 1600 per maund at growers' level to traders' level while medium and low-grade jute was hardly sold at Tk 650 to Tk 950 per maund across the country while it was Tk 2100 to Tk 2200 (Tossa) per maund and Tk 1600 to Tk 1700 (Deshi) per maund during the corresponding period last year, according to the 'Mokams'.
Md Manik Hossain, a farmer at Prodhan Para under Ketokibari Union in Domar upazila of Nilphamari district, said he got 22 maunds (per maund= 40 kg) of Deshi jute from his four bighas and five maunds of Tossa from the rest one bigha.
He told the FE that it cost him Tk 5500 for jute production in one bigha of land while he sold 5.5 maunds from one bigha land at only Tk 5000 in October.
According to the DAE, the production of potato was 3.2 million tonnes in 2003-4 fiscal year (FY), which reached 8.3 million tonnes in 2010-11 FY.
Our Rangpur 'Mokam' sources said, farmers of Rangpur division were selling 'Granola' variety of potato between Tk 1.50 and Tk 2.0 per kg this season (December) against a production cost of Tk 4.0 to Tk 5.0 per kg.
Md Shuja Uddin, a farmer at Charcharabari union in Nilphamari Sadar, has not lifted his potato from cold storage in Jaldhaka upazila in the district fearing possible losses.
Talking to the FE he said, he produced nearly 500 maunds of potato in January-February period of 2011, the production cost per bigha being Tk 20,000 while he stored nearly 140 sacks (per sack 85 kg) of potato in at cold storage due to price fall.
"But the price has now come down to Tk 200 - 250 per sack (85 kg) while the cold storage charge for the same is Tk 370," he said.
Experts expressed their view that deprivation of fair price for agro produce is increasing food insecurity among the marginal farmers.
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) Executive Chairman Dr Wais Kabir has told the FE that price debacle of farm produce not only hurts the farmers, but also affects their consumption of nutrients which they get from vegetables, milk, fish, egg and other foods.
He said: "We have to appropriate a perfect market mechanism which could be able to keep the interest of both the producers and the consumers."
The year 2012 is stepping its feet to bring both optimism and concern for the farmers who want to forget the nightmare of the just outgoing calendar year due to financial losses they incurred due to much lower price tag.
The calendar year 2011 gifted the country with a robust agricultural production but the peasantry was deprived of fair price in almost every crop they produced, farmers and officials said.
The farmers started the year 2011 with a godsend by getting handsome price of Aman rice in November-December period in 2010 and that was the end.
For the rest of the year, for their farm produce including rice, jute, potato, vegetables and spices, farmers failed to get even production costs, according to the farmers and reports published and viewed in the media.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) officials told the FE that the country produced 18.65 million tonnes of Boro rice, 2.3 million tones of Aus rice, 8.46 million tonnes of jute and 8.32 million tonnes of potato while the target of producing 13.3 million tonnes of Aman rice from 5.63 million hectares may be exceeded this year.
Farmers across the country have been selling Aman paddy at a rate between Tk 550 and Tk 570 per maund, which is much below the production cost calculated by the agriculture ministry at Tk 600 per maund in 2011.
Md Helal Bepari, a farmer in Uzirpur upazila in Barisal district, told the FE that Aman paddy sold between Tk 550 and Tk 575 per maund (40 kg in the region) in Barisal district.
He said, he got around 40 maunds of paddy from his 5.0 Jaistos (1 Jaisto=20 decimals) of land while it cost him around Tk 22,500 for production.
Md Helal said it cost him more than Tk 550 to get one maund of paddy but he sold his produce at Tk 530 to Tk 540 in the first week of December.
Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) estimated that the production cost of Aman increased by 13.64 per cent this season, while the 'Mokam' sources (local wholesale market of agriculture produce) said that Aman paddy price came down by 25 to 30 per cent in this harvesting season compared to the price in 2010.
Boro
Farmers sold Boro rice (hybrid) at Tk 450 to Tk 480 per maund and HYV at Tk 530 to Tk580 per maund against the production cost of more than Tk 600 per maund between the last week of April and Mid-June 2011.
After the declaration of procuring rice by the government in the last week of May, (while the operation began in June 5), the market price of paddy began to increase, but farmers already had sold their produce then.
Jute
After getting a handsome price of jute in 2010 the farmers were encouraged to increase the production of jute this year, but expectation turned a nightmare as jute price fell drastically across the country.
Higher quality jute was sold between Tk 1300 to Tk 1600 per maund at growers' level to traders' level while medium and low-grade jute was hardly sold at Tk 650 to Tk 950 per maund across the country while it was Tk 2100 to Tk 2200 (Tossa) per maund and Tk 1600 to Tk 1700 (Deshi) per maund during the corresponding period last year, according to the 'Mokams'.
Md Manik Hossain, a farmer at Prodhan Para under Ketokibari Union in Domar upazila of Nilphamari district, said he got 22 maunds (per maund= 40 kg) of Deshi jute from his four bighas and five maunds of Tossa from the rest one bigha.
He told the FE that it cost him Tk 5500 for jute production in one bigha of land while he sold 5.5 maunds from one bigha land at only Tk 5000 in October.
According to the DAE, the production of potato was 3.2 million tonnes in 2003-4 fiscal year (FY), which reached 8.3 million tonnes in 2010-11 FY.
Our Rangpur 'Mokam' sources said, farmers of Rangpur division were selling 'Granola' variety of potato between Tk 1.50 and Tk 2.0 per kg this season (December) against a production cost of Tk 4.0 to Tk 5.0 per kg.
Md Shuja Uddin, a farmer at Charcharabari union in Nilphamari Sadar, has not lifted his potato from cold storage in Jaldhaka upazila in the district fearing possible losses.
Talking to the FE he said, he produced nearly 500 maunds of potato in January-February period of 2011, the production cost per bigha being Tk 20,000 while he stored nearly 140 sacks (per sack 85 kg) of potato in at cold storage due to price fall.
"But the price has now come down to Tk 200 - 250 per sack (85 kg) while the cold storage charge for the same is Tk 370," he said.
Experts expressed their view that deprivation of fair price for agro produce is increasing food insecurity among the marginal farmers.
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC) Executive Chairman Dr Wais Kabir has told the FE that price debacle of farm produce not only hurts the farmers, but also affects their consumption of nutrients which they get from vegetables, milk, fish, egg and other foods.
He said: "We have to appropriate a perfect market mechanism which could be able to keep the interest of both the producers and the consumers."
The year 2012 is stepping its feet to bring both optimism and concern for the farmers who want to forget the nightmare of the just outgoing calendar year due to financial losses they incurred due to much lower price tag.