Boro paddy is swaying in the fields across Sunamganj, and farmers are busy bringing in the golden crop. But although the yield is good, they are worried about whether they will recover their production costs.

A visit to Sunamganj's haors found boro paddy stretching to the horizon, turned from green to gold. Farmers are working day and night to bring in the crop: some cutting, some tying sheaves, some carrying the paddy home from the fields on their heads, and others threshing. Farming men and women in the haor areas are busy like this from morning to evening.

Yet even as they bring home the golden paddy, farmers' faces look glum. Though the yield is good, they have spent extra on fertiliser, pesticide, harvest labour and other costs, and the price of paddy is low compared with those costs. Unless the price rises, farmers now fear that far from making a profit they may not even recover their production costs at this price.

Farmers around the haor said that at current prices of everything, a paddy price below Tk 1,500 means a loss for the farmer. With costs as they are, farmers cannot survive, they said.

Abdullah, a farmer in Dekhar haor, told Jagonews24 that growing paddy had cost more this year than in other years. "If the paddy price does not rise this time, we will not make much of a profit."

Jamir Mia, a farmer in Shanir haor, told Jagonews24 that the paddy yield in the haor was good this year. Farmers are bringing in the paddy with smiles, but they are worried about its price, he said.

Meanwhile, after harvesting paddy in the haor with farmers on Friday afternoon, Agriculture Minister Abdus Shahid said: "We will hold a meeting next Sunday to fix the paddy price. Under the leadership of the food minister, we will make sure farmers get a fair price. We want farmers to be encouraged to grow paddy, and the price will be fixed accordingly."

This season farmers in Sunamganj have grown boro paddy on 2,23,245 hectares, which is expected to produce 13,70,202 tonnes of paddy with a market value of Tk 4,100 crore.

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