Farmers in Naogaon, the northern district rich in paddy and rice, are busy harvesting and threshing aus paddy. Favourable weather has given them the yields they hoped for, but the smiles on their faces fade quickly because of prices.

New paddy is reaching the haats, but not at the prices farmers expected. So this time they are counting losses instead of profits, and many want to give up farming. Farmers are demanding closer market monitoring and government procurement of paddy to ensure fair prices.

On a recent visit along the Naogaon-Mahadebpur regional road, ripe aus paddy glowed in the golden autumn sun. Labourers cut the paddy with sickles in the scorching heat and tied it into bundles, then walked in groups carrying the bundles on their heads to farmers' homes, where the paddy was threshed by machine in the courtyards. Bringing home the new crop had a festive air.

The picture changes once the paddy reaches the haat. Supply has risen, but rice mill owners or their agents are rarely seen among the buyers at local haats. Taking the opportunity, middlemen (foria) and aratdars are buying aus paddy from farmers at Tk 650 to a maximum of Tk 800 a maund, at least Tk 350 to Tk 400 a maund less than last year.

Farmers say that including fertiliser, pesticide, harvesting, threshing and irrigation, costs this year were Tk 10,500 to Tk 12,000 a bigha. Selling at Tk 650 to Tk 800 a maund means a loss of at least Tk 4,000 to Tk 5,000 a bigha, making aus cultivation this year a thorn in the throat.

Mohammad Quddus, a farmer from Uttargram in Uttargram union of Mahadebpur upazila, said he grew aus on 4 bighas with BRRI dhan56 and BRRI dhan65. "After spending Tk 45,000 I got 64 maunds. If I sell at Tk 700 a maund, forget profit, I won't even recover the cost of production. All the labour and time in the field is wasted. I'm struggling to cover the cost of preparing for the next aman crop. If this goes on, I'll have to stop growing paddy."

Moin Uddin of the same village grew aus on 8 bighas. Angry about current prices, he said the aus crop was a total loss this year. "It doesn't even cover the cost of fertiliser and phosphate. There are few buyers in the market; traders don't want to buy even at Tk 700 a maund. This paddy should fetch at least Tk 1,100 to Tk 1,200 a maund. Farmers are dying, but the administration takes no action against the market syndicate."

Sanchay Sarkar, who came to sell paddy at Saraswatipur haat, said he harvested 150 maunds of BRRI dhan19 from 10 bighas. "After bringing the paddy to market I waited for hours but saw no big trader or miller's representative. In the end I had to sell at Tk 750 a maund for Tk 1,12,500. My production cost was Tk 1,10,000. At this price I can't even cover the cost of the next crop."

He said that a month earlier, while government warehouses were buying paddy directly from farmers in the boro season, fair prices were available. Once government procurement ended, the syndicate regained its grip on the market, producing today's prices. To save farmers, he said, the government must immediately start procuring paddy in the aus season too; only then will the syndicate break.

Shamsur Rahman of Chowdhury Traders, buying paddy at Saraswatipur, said big traders and millers did not want to buy, so farmers were wandering from haat to haat with their paddy. "We don't know where we'll sell after buying, so we're taking a risk and buying cheap. Paddy is Tk 350 to Tk 400 a maund cheaper than last year."

Monjur Rahman, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Naogaon, told Jagonews24 that aus was grown on 58,573 hectares in the district this year, with a target of 1,84,504 tonnes of rice. Farmers got higher yields than before, and they are being advised to store paddy, dry it and sell later for a fair price.

On the market syndicate, he said the DAE's job was to support higher crop production, and in that it had succeeded. Whether farmers get fair prices in the market is for the local administration and the agricultural marketing officer to see.

Naogaon district agricultural marketing officer Sohag Sarkar told Jagonews24 that in a free-market economy there was no scope to fix paddy prices. But given that the district is rich in paddy and rice, farmers would get fair prices if the government bought paddy in the aus season too. He said there was nothing he could do alone to break the market syndicate.

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