Farmers in the haor areas of Sunamganj, a low-lying district, have always kept away from banks. Citing harassment and too many rules, they skip government-backed bank credit and run to moneylenders when they need cash urgently. The banks lose business, while farmers, who pay a share of their paddy profits to the moneylenders, see no change in their fortunes.

Three rounds of flooding left marginal farmers in Sunamganj in dire straits. Everything from aus paddy to household furniture was swept away. The floods have receded, but the lives of haor farmers have not returned to normal. Short of money, they say they face harassment at banks and fail to get loans, so they are borrowing from moneylenders at high interest to plant boro rice, and a large part of the profit from the crop goes to the lenders.

Boro cultivation by around 10 lakh farmers in 137 large and small haors across 12 upazilas, including Sunamganj Sadar, Tahirpur and Dowarabazar, should have been in full swing, but many have not been able to start for lack of money. Banks carry loan support and various incentive packages for farmers, but because of harassment and excessive rules, farmers are going to moneylenders instead.

Farmer Jahangir told Jago News that after much hard work growing a crop, a large part of the profit goes to repaying loans, which is why haor farmers cannot benefit financially. "And when we go to the bank for an agricultural loan, we face all kinds of harassment," he said.

Haor farmer Monowar told Jago News that farmers are harassed when they try to take the money they need for boro from a bank. So they borrow at high interest from moneylenders and later have to hand over a large part of the profit to them.

According to Krishi Bank in Sunamganj, this year's target for loans to farmers was Tk 77 crore 27 lakh. Tk 42 crore has already been lent to 7,000 farmers, and the rest will be disbursed in phases.

Mohammad Faizur Rahman Shahid, chief regional manager of Krishi Bank in Sunamganj, told Jago News that the bank lends to farmers on easy terms, so there is no scope for any farmer to be harassed when taking an agricultural loan.

According to the Sunamganj district office of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), 10 lakh farmers have grown boro on 2,23,410 hectares this year. If the weather stays favourable, the land will yield 9 lakh 18 thousand tonnes of rice, worth Tk 4,500 crore at market prices.

Bimal Chandra Som, deputy director of the DAE in Sunamganj, told Jago News: "We are holding meetings and seminars in the field to advise farmers so that they can get agricultural loans without harassment."

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