Farmers brace for record Boro harvest, still worried
Saturday, 25 April 2009
S M Jahangir
The country is set to harvest a record Boro output this season, amid deep concern among the growers over falling prices of their crops.
"The country's rice output is expected to reach a new record in the current Boro season unless the crop is affected by any natural calamity like tornado and hailstorms," a senior agriculture ministry official said.
Referring to the field-level information of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), the official said this year's Boro output is likely to cross 19 million tonnes against the target of 18 million tonnes.
In the last Boro season, the country's rice production was recorded at nearly 17.60 million tonnes, official statistics revealed.
The unexpected high output is a result of 0.2 million additional hectares that have been brought under cultivation thus brightening the prospect for achieving a record rice output this season.
According to the DAE, about 4.9 million hectares of land had come under Boro plantation this season against the target of 4.67 million hectares,
Farmers have started harvesting the Boro crop in many areas of the country peaking in a week's time, official sources said.
Citing the growers' level information, they said per acreage yield of the harvested crop is also likely to be better than the expectation.
"Both the better than the expected yield result and a significant increase in the overall cultivated area have prompted us to revise upward the previous Boro production target," said an agriculture ministry official.
Besides, the expected record harvest of Boro rice is the result of a significant increase in the areas of land under the cultivation of hybrid and other high-yielding crops, the official added.
Above all, the farmers' untiring efforts coupled with a favourable weather condition made the current Boro season successful, he observed.
"Inspired by bumper crops in the past consecutive Boro and Aman seasons, the local farmers made extra efforts to grow a bumper production in the current Boro season also," said the official.
But the falling prices of the cereal in the market have, according to sources, dashed the hope of the local Boro growers.
Prices of both paddy and rice have already fallen below their production costs, they said farmers in many areas are facing a loss to the tune of around Tk 100 while selling one maund of paddy in the open market.
Agri-experts and economists have already captioned that such a price fall could cause a negative impact on the country's future rice cultivation.
They have also suggested that the government should take necessary steps to protect the interest of the local rice growers so that they get fair prices for their produce.
Taking the current falling prices into account, the government is also considering fixing the procurement prices of both rice and paddy at considerably higher than that of the open markets.
The government fixed the buying prices of rice and paddy at Tk 28 and Tk 18 per kg respectively in the last Boro season, when the open market prices were considerably higher than that of the procurement prices.
But this year, the prices of coarse rice have drastically come down to as low as Tk 20 per kg at the growers' level.
The country is set to harvest a record Boro output this season, amid deep concern among the growers over falling prices of their crops.
"The country's rice output is expected to reach a new record in the current Boro season unless the crop is affected by any natural calamity like tornado and hailstorms," a senior agriculture ministry official said.
Referring to the field-level information of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), the official said this year's Boro output is likely to cross 19 million tonnes against the target of 18 million tonnes.
In the last Boro season, the country's rice production was recorded at nearly 17.60 million tonnes, official statistics revealed.
The unexpected high output is a result of 0.2 million additional hectares that have been brought under cultivation thus brightening the prospect for achieving a record rice output this season.
According to the DAE, about 4.9 million hectares of land had come under Boro plantation this season against the target of 4.67 million hectares,
Farmers have started harvesting the Boro crop in many areas of the country peaking in a week's time, official sources said.
Citing the growers' level information, they said per acreage yield of the harvested crop is also likely to be better than the expectation.
"Both the better than the expected yield result and a significant increase in the overall cultivated area have prompted us to revise upward the previous Boro production target," said an agriculture ministry official.
Besides, the expected record harvest of Boro rice is the result of a significant increase in the areas of land under the cultivation of hybrid and other high-yielding crops, the official added.
Above all, the farmers' untiring efforts coupled with a favourable weather condition made the current Boro season successful, he observed.
"Inspired by bumper crops in the past consecutive Boro and Aman seasons, the local farmers made extra efforts to grow a bumper production in the current Boro season also," said the official.
But the falling prices of the cereal in the market have, according to sources, dashed the hope of the local Boro growers.
Prices of both paddy and rice have already fallen below their production costs, they said farmers in many areas are facing a loss to the tune of around Tk 100 while selling one maund of paddy in the open market.
Agri-experts and economists have already captioned that such a price fall could cause a negative impact on the country's future rice cultivation.
They have also suggested that the government should take necessary steps to protect the interest of the local rice growers so that they get fair prices for their produce.
Taking the current falling prices into account, the government is also considering fixing the procurement prices of both rice and paddy at considerably higher than that of the open markets.
The government fixed the buying prices of rice and paddy at Tk 28 and Tk 18 per kg respectively in the last Boro season, when the open market prices were considerably higher than that of the procurement prices.
But this year, the prices of coarse rice have drastically come down to as low as Tk 20 per kg at the growers' level.