Fix up rice price, procurement target for this Boro season
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Yasir Wardad
Farmers' representatives and experts have made a strong plea to the government to fix up rice price and the procurement target for this Boro season which is likely to give a bumper production. Failure in procurement will require more import of rice, experts said. The country's Boro acreage reached around 4.8 million hectares by surpassing its actual target of 4.78 million hectares this season, a high official of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) told the FE Tuesday. The climate this season showed no crisis of fertiliser, seeds or water. "Haor', "char" and "beel" areas are also going to give a good harvest. So, we are expecting a bumper crop output this season, the official of food crop wing of DAE said. The production would exceed the target of 18.6 million tonnes by a significant margin, he said optimistically. But despite the official's optimism, a big fear is rooted in farmers' mind. Talking to the FE many of the farmers said about their experience of 2009 when they got only Tk 380 to Tk 430 for a maund of rice. "In 2008, during the regime of Fakhruddin (former chief adviser to caretaker government Fakhruddin Ahmed) the rice price jumped to a peak when we were in great difficulty to survive," Moslem Uddin, owner of two and a half bigha (one bigha=33 decimals) of land at Uttarsaidpur village under Berdighi union of Fulbari upazila in Dinajpur district, said. He said: "In those days, we were hopeful that we would get a reasonable price for our crop. But we got only Tk 380 to Tk 430 for a maund (one maund=37.5 kilogram) for Boro crop in 2009. "This year the "Paikers" (middlemen between rice merchants and farmers in northern districts) have already started to move in the areas," he said. "They are taking the advantage as we are already netted in loans from the NGOs for irrigation, fertiliser and pesticides." He told the FE that he was forced to sell twenty maunds of rice to a "Paiker" at only Tk 450 per maund to pay three instalments of three microcredit lenders and also pay the debt to the fertiliser and pesticide retailers. Moslem Uddin said anxiously that the sign of this Boro season was as like as 2009 when the rice price declined by Tk 3.0 to Tk 4.0 per kilogram at retail level just before the Boro harvest. Our sources in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Bogra and Naogaon said paddy (Guti Sharana) of last year was sold between Tk 1400 and Tk 1500 per 75 kg sack this week, Tk 100 to Tk 150 less than that of two weeks back. Just-harvested paddy BR-28 coming from Char and Beel areas was sold between Tk 550 and Tk 600 per 40 kg. DAE officials at Rangpur, Dinajpur and Rajshahi told the FE that harvest already began in some areas and would begin in the rest parts of northern-western region would start within two weeks. Sources at Rangpur said the price of coarse rice at retail level declined by Tk 3.0 to Tk 4.0 and the rice was sold between Tk 28 and Tk 31 per kg. Talking to the FE the farmers' representatives sought fixing of the price of Boro crop immediately to ensure justifiable price for farmers. Secretary of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal Shamsuzzaman Dudu said, according to the Article-10 of National Agriculture Policy 2010, a skilled market mechanism should be introduced to ensure that the farmers got justifiable price for their crops to improve their economic condition. He told the FE that the sub-article 10.1 also said that the government should open village markets which would be connected to the central markets and would help integrated agriculture marketing from farmers' level to the consumers. The last Boro season saw a great failure of the government in fixing the appropriate price; as a result the government could achieve a little amount out of the total procurement target, he added. President of Krishok Samity Morshed Ali said, they had made twelve demands to the agriculture minister recently for the interest of the farmers. Most important of those was to buy rice directly from the farmers to avoid the middlemen, merchants and millers. "Our proposal is to open market operation in every village," he said. Explaining the 2010-11FY's futile procurement mechanism of the government, he said: "When market price was Tk 18 the government fixed Tk 17 for one kg of paddy and consequently farmers showed no interest, later it fixed the price at Tk 20 when the market price was Tk 19 and no farmers had rice by the time." "This raised the rice price by Tk 3.0 to Tk 4.0 per day at retail level in July-August of 2010-11FY by the time," he added. General secretary of Bangladesh Bhumiheen Samity Subal Sarker said nearly 65 per cent farmers are landless In Bangladesh. The landless Adhiar or Borgachashi (share croppers) were mainly affected as a result of the low price of their share of crops, he said. He said that the farmers in northern and western districts were forced to sell crops at a lower price. Joint Convenor of Krishok Jot Md. Anwarul Islam Babu said farmers' irrigation cost increased significantly in recent years.
Farmers' representatives and experts have made a strong plea to the government to fix up rice price and the procurement target for this Boro season which is likely to give a bumper production. Failure in procurement will require more import of rice, experts said. The country's Boro acreage reached around 4.8 million hectares by surpassing its actual target of 4.78 million hectares this season, a high official of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) told the FE Tuesday. The climate this season showed no crisis of fertiliser, seeds or water. "Haor', "char" and "beel" areas are also going to give a good harvest. So, we are expecting a bumper crop output this season, the official of food crop wing of DAE said. The production would exceed the target of 18.6 million tonnes by a significant margin, he said optimistically. But despite the official's optimism, a big fear is rooted in farmers' mind. Talking to the FE many of the farmers said about their experience of 2009 when they got only Tk 380 to Tk 430 for a maund of rice. "In 2008, during the regime of Fakhruddin (former chief adviser to caretaker government Fakhruddin Ahmed) the rice price jumped to a peak when we were in great difficulty to survive," Moslem Uddin, owner of two and a half bigha (one bigha=33 decimals) of land at Uttarsaidpur village under Berdighi union of Fulbari upazila in Dinajpur district, said. He said: "In those days, we were hopeful that we would get a reasonable price for our crop. But we got only Tk 380 to Tk 430 for a maund (one maund=37.5 kilogram) for Boro crop in 2009. "This year the "Paikers" (middlemen between rice merchants and farmers in northern districts) have already started to move in the areas," he said. "They are taking the advantage as we are already netted in loans from the NGOs for irrigation, fertiliser and pesticides." He told the FE that he was forced to sell twenty maunds of rice to a "Paiker" at only Tk 450 per maund to pay three instalments of three microcredit lenders and also pay the debt to the fertiliser and pesticide retailers. Moslem Uddin said anxiously that the sign of this Boro season was as like as 2009 when the rice price declined by Tk 3.0 to Tk 4.0 per kilogram at retail level just before the Boro harvest. Our sources in Rangpur, Dinajpur, Bogra and Naogaon said paddy (Guti Sharana) of last year was sold between Tk 1400 and Tk 1500 per 75 kg sack this week, Tk 100 to Tk 150 less than that of two weeks back. Just-harvested paddy BR-28 coming from Char and Beel areas was sold between Tk 550 and Tk 600 per 40 kg. DAE officials at Rangpur, Dinajpur and Rajshahi told the FE that harvest already began in some areas and would begin in the rest parts of northern-western region would start within two weeks. Sources at Rangpur said the price of coarse rice at retail level declined by Tk 3.0 to Tk 4.0 and the rice was sold between Tk 28 and Tk 31 per kg. Talking to the FE the farmers' representatives sought fixing of the price of Boro crop immediately to ensure justifiable price for farmers. Secretary of Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal Shamsuzzaman Dudu said, according to the Article-10 of National Agriculture Policy 2010, a skilled market mechanism should be introduced to ensure that the farmers got justifiable price for their crops to improve their economic condition. He told the FE that the sub-article 10.1 also said that the government should open village markets which would be connected to the central markets and would help integrated agriculture marketing from farmers' level to the consumers. The last Boro season saw a great failure of the government in fixing the appropriate price; as a result the government could achieve a little amount out of the total procurement target, he added. President of Krishok Samity Morshed Ali said, they had made twelve demands to the agriculture minister recently for the interest of the farmers. Most important of those was to buy rice directly from the farmers to avoid the middlemen, merchants and millers. "Our proposal is to open market operation in every village," he said. Explaining the 2010-11FY's futile procurement mechanism of the government, he said: "When market price was Tk 18 the government fixed Tk 17 for one kg of paddy and consequently farmers showed no interest, later it fixed the price at Tk 20 when the market price was Tk 19 and no farmers had rice by the time." "This raised the rice price by Tk 3.0 to Tk 4.0 per day at retail level in July-August of 2010-11FY by the time," he added. General secretary of Bangladesh Bhumiheen Samity Subal Sarker said nearly 65 per cent farmers are landless In Bangladesh. The landless Adhiar or Borgachashi (share croppers) were mainly affected as a result of the low price of their share of crops, he said. He said that the farmers in northern and western districts were forced to sell crops at a lower price. Joint Convenor of Krishok Jot Md. Anwarul Islam Babu said farmers' irrigation cost increased significantly in recent years.