Thakurgaon's wide fields are now a sea of golden crops. Farmers are pleased that paddy yields in the district are good this year, but a silent pain lies behind their smiles: despite the good yield, they are disappointed at not getting a fair price.

Visits to several upazilas of the district found farmers busy in the fields, some carrying paddy home on their shoulders, others threshing it. But because the market price of paddy is low compared with production costs, they are not seeing a profit.

Local farmers Shuvo, Ripon Ali, Ibrahim and Abul Hossain said a bigha of 50 decimals has yielded 30 to 35 maunds of paddy this year. But production costs, including fertiliser, seed, labour, land lease and transport, come to about Tk 30,000 to 35,000 per bigha. Meanwhile, a two-maund sack of paddy is selling for Tk 2,200 to 2,400 on the market, which does not even cover costs.

They said the yield is good but there is no price. If they got Tk 3,000 a sack, there would be some profit. If the government set a fair price and bought paddy, farmers could survive on a minimal profit.

Md Majedul Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Thakurgaon, said paddy yields in the district are better this year than last year. Although market prices fluctuate somewhat, farmers will be able to make up their losses with the next crop, he said, adding that prices are expected to rise somewhat if the government fixes the paddy price.

According to agriculture department figures, aman paddy has been grown on 1 lakh 37 thousand hectares in Thakurgaon district this season, with a production target of 4 lakh 88 thousand tonnes of rice. About 10 percent of the land has already been harvested.

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