The target of rice production set by the government for this Boro season is unlikely to be achieved due to persistent low prices of paddy, insiders said.
The country produced an all-time high of 19.57 million tonnes of rice during the Boro season in the last fiscal year (FY'18), according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
The target for this year has been fixed at 19.62 million tonnes of rice, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
Farmers were much enthusiastic last year following higher prices of rice in the market while the acreage increased to an all-time high of 4.859 million hectares.
The government has fixed a target to bring 4.84 million hectares of land under Boro cultivation this year.
Field Service Wing under the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) data showed that farmers cultivated 4.31 million hectares of land for Boro crop until February 17.
Dr Alhaj Uddin, additional director at Monitoring Unit of DAE, told the FE that paddy prices in the market put impacts on its cropping during the cultivation period.
"But we are expecting that our acreage target might be achieved within mid-March."
Assistant director at Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) TM Rashed Khan said prices of paddy during Aman season fell notably in the market.
Seasonal Swarna paddy, a coarse variety, was selling at Tk 580-Tk 650 a maund (40 kilogrammes) in different regions of the country against production cost of Tk 780-Tk 880, he added.
Secretary of Bangladesh Auto Major Husking Mill Owners Association KM Layek Ali said Swarna rice was selling at Tk 26-Tk 27 a kg at mill-gates in Kushtia, Naogaon, Dinajpur and Nilphamari for last two weeks.
Birridhan-28 rice was trading at Tk 36-Tk 38 and fine varieties at Tk 46-Tk 52 a kg, he said, adding that coarse rice price hits three-year low at mill-gates.
"It will be tough for the government to achieve its Boro production target as many farmers are unwilling to go for cultivation this year," Prof Golam Hafiz Kennedy said.
"The farmers who are financially able to store the crop for few months are not eager to produce paddy this year due to low prices."
Prof Kennedy said such farmers hold a good share of land and it will impact overall production.
He said Boro production impacts rice market largely as it is a major source of rice. "Fall in Boro crop output in 2017 made the rice market volatile as prices shot up to all-time high."
The government should provide the farmers with logical incentives which could encourage them in farming, he added.
Prof Gazi M Jalil, farm economist, said coarse rice is still retailing at Tk 38-Tk 44 and finer at Tk 60-Tk 72 a kg in the cities when farmers were struggling to get back their investments.
Big millers and traders are benefiting most from the rice market, he said.
According to the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), now retail prices of rice are 4-12 per cent lower than that of a year ago.
The country produced a record 36.2 million tonnes of rice in FY'18. The government has set a target to get 36.4 million tonnes of rice in FY'19.
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