Naogaon, a northern district, meets most of the demand for paddy and rice at wholesale markets across the country. In the 1980s about 2,000 husking mills, large and small, were set up in the district. Over time those mills have fallen into decay. Unable to compete with automatic rice mills, at least 82 per cent of the district's rice mills have closed. A handful of traders have taken control of the rice market, and at least 35,000 chatal (drying-yard) workers have lost their jobs. Leaders of the rice mill owners' group have called on the interim government to resolve the crisis.

On a recent visit to the Aratdarpatti-Sultanpur road in the town, at least six husking mills were lying closed within two kilometres. Mills once bustling with workers are now silent, and weeds have grown in them after long closure. Local farmers use the closed mills to dry paddy in the sun. Right beside them, automatic rice mills stand tall with production running day and night.

In the same area, Suman Saha of Par Naogaon mahalla in Sadar upazila has set up a plastics factory in an abandoned husking mill. After finishing his studies abroad, he took over his father's three husking mills in 2011, and the business did well while there were profits. After 2015, unable to compete with automatic rice mills, he suffered heavy losses and was forced to sell two husking mills to repay loans.

Suman Saha told Jago News: "Once the automatic rice mill owners started business, they began to dominate the paddy and rice market. It was impossible to compete with them to buy paddy at the markets. Whatever price they pay for paddy, they can easily sell the rice at a hefty profit. Husking-mill rice does not look attractive, so after buying paddy at a high price, outside wholesale traders did not want to buy it even without profit, let alone a small profit. In this way, at one point, short of cash and in debt, I was forced to close all three mills."

Chatal workers Rahima, Amena and Sufia of Sultanpur mahalla said: "Once we would hurry to the chatal in groups before sunrise. We dried paddy singing aloud and treading it together. The rice and cash we got as wages kept our households going well. But those golden days are gone. With mill after mill closing, we are now worn out running around looking for work."

"Automatic rice mills do not take women workers," they said. "At the mill where we work now, we get paid only when the sun is out. When the sky is cloudy we go without food."

Mozaffar Hossain, president of the Naogaon District Paddy and Boiler Auto Sorter Workers' Union, an organisation of chatal workers, said: "Automatic rice mills can produce large amounts of rice in a short time with few workers. Husking mills, by contrast, need more workers to produce rice. So with husking mills closing one after another, the lives and livelihoods of chatal workers are now under severe threat."

He said at least 35,000 chatal workers had become jobless over the past decade and a half. Some changed profession because of low wages, and most of those who remain live half-fed or hungry.

"Whether a chatal (the cycle from drying paddy to producing rice) takes four days or 10 or 15, the workers get the same wage," he said. "Women workers get 9 kg of rice and Tk 90 per chatal. Our chatal workers suffer this wage discrimination and shed tears in silence, while those in the paddy and rice trade see it and pretend not to."

According to the food department and the district Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the district now has 356 working rice mills, of which 44 are automatic rice mills and 312 husking mills. Over the past year, the Boro, Aus and Aman seasons produced paddy enough for 17 lakh tonnes of rice. Local demand is only six lakh tonnes, and the district's mill owners and traders supply the remaining 11 lakh tonnes to wholesale markets in Dhaka, Chattogram and elsewhere.

Wholesale rice traders allege that polished rice from automatic mills, though lower in nutritional value, tops consumer demand. So of the 11 lakh tonnes supplied outside the district, at least eight lakh tonnes must be taken from automatic rice mill owners, which lets them control the market as they please all year. Failing in this unequal competition, husking mills are closing one after another, and the syndicate keeps getting stronger.

Asked about this, Farhad Hossain Chakdar, general secretary of the Naogaon District Rice Mill Owners' Group, told Jago News that countless automatic rice mills had been set up in the district over the past decade and a half without regard for rules. Most automatic rice mill owners ignore the stock policy, and the government has never tried to rein them in. As a result, 82 per cent of rice mill owners have left the business.

He said the nutritional value of husking-mill rice must be presented to the public and the necessary steps taken to stop rice polishing. Only then will husking mills regain their glory, the rice market syndicate will easily be broken, and if the number of traders grows, consumers will also get relief. He called on the interim government to resolve the crisis.

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