Marginal farmers in Joypurhat are worried. Rising production costs have put them under financial strain as they grow and tend their rice. Higher diesel prices have raised the cost of ploughing, and fertiliser, seed, pesticide and labour have added to the burden. Altogether the cost of production has risen by Tk 3,000 to 5,000 a bigha, yet paddy prices have not risen in proportion. So even with a crop there is no guarantee of profit, and farmers fear losses.

According to the district agriculture department, the target this year is to grow transplanted Aman on 70,095 hectares, from which 350,957 tonnes of paddy is expected. Planting has already been completed on 97 per cent of the land.

Farmers say that compared with last year the cost of ploughing has gone up by Tk 300 a bigha, and farm labourers are charging Tk 500 more for transplanting. On the pretext of a shortage, retail fertiliser prices have risen by Tk 100 to 200 a sack and pesticide prices by Tk 300 to 500, on top of seed, irrigation and other costs.

Ismail Mondal, a farmer from Puranapoil in Joypurhat Sadar upazila, said that if the weather stays favourable, yields might reach 18 to a maximum of 20 maunds a bigha. But if paddy does not fetch a fair price relative to costs, farmers will lose money on Aman just as they did in the last potato and Boro seasons.

Gobinda and Lutfar Rahman, farmers from Birnagar in Panchbibi upazila, said that with land preparation, labour, seedlings, pesticide and fertiliser, costs this year are several times higher than last year. On top of that, many farmers are having to buy fertiliser at extra prices because it is not available when needed.

Indigenous farmer Robin of Dastapur village and Babul Hossain of Tajpur village make the same complaint. They say fertiliser is not available in shops, and when it is, higher prices are demanded. Their worry is whether any profit will be left after spending so much on growing rice.

They allege that some traders are creating an artificial shortage of fertiliser and selling at higher prices. If agriculture department staff monitored in the field, dealers would not be able to overcharge, they say.

Md Azizur Rahman, representative of Messrs Shamsul Alam Chowdhury, a BCIC-approved fertiliser dealer at Chanpara bazar in Joypurhat, said they sell fertiliser according to the government price list. But he admitted they are not getting allocations to match demand, and so cannot supply farmers as much as they need.

Under the government's price list for farmers, a 50 kg sack of urea should sell for Tk 1,350, TSP for Tk 1,350, MoP for Tk 1,000 and DAP for Tk 1,050, but farmers allege that some dealers and retailers are not following it.

AKM Sadiqul Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Joypurhat, said there is no fertiliser shortage in the district and allocations have been made according to demand. If any dealer is found charging more in the field, action will be taken on receipt of a complaint, he said.

He added that farmers apply two to three times more fertiliser per bigha than is needed, and some are already trying to stock fertiliser for the coming potato season, which is creating the problems.

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