Early varieties of paddy have started reaching markets in Dinajpur. Farmers say aman has yielded well this year with no floods or natural disasters, and they are also happy with prices. If these prices hold, they will recover the extra costs they incurred.

With no rain at the start of the season, farmers had to use supplementary irrigation to grow early paddy. Traders' syndicates also forced them to buy fertiliser and pesticide at higher prices. As a result, growing early paddy cost farmers Tk 2,000-2,500 more an acre.

A visit to several paddy markets in the district found BINA-7, 16, 17, 75 and 78, and Zira-90, Zira-92, Dhanigor and Kotorapari paddy starting to arrive.

Farmers and traders said early BINA-16, 17, 75 and 78 paddy is selling at Tk 2,500-2,600 per 77kg sack, and BINA-7 at Tk 2,500-2,700 per 77kg sack. Zira-90, Zira-92 and Dhanigor are selling at Tk 3,800-3,900 per 77kg sack, and Kotorapari at Tk 2,000 per 77kg sack.

Nur Islam, who came to sell paddy at Gopalganj haat in Sadar upazila, said the yield had been good this year. "We are threshing early paddy and selling it in the market, and prices are good. If these prices hold, farmers will profit. But we are having to buy fertiliser at higher prices for early potatoes. Fertiliser traders have formed a syndicate and are charging more," he said.

Lalit Chandra Roy, a farmer in Mukundapur village of Kaharol upazila, said he had a very good yield from early paddy on three acres this year. He is now growing early potatoes on the same land and will then grow maize there.

Paddy traders Md Azizul Haque and Mizanur Rahman said trading in early paddy has started on a limited scale and the market is quite good. At these prices farmers will not suffer losses. But they fear the government's paddy and rice procurement drive may fail at the prices it has announced, because market prices are much higher than the government's.

Md Nuruzzaman, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Dinajpur, said aman was grown on 2,60,880 hectares this year, including 48,590 hectares of early varieties. Potatoes are grown on this land, and early potatoes will be grown on 10,000 hectares of it.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.