Unable to compete with automatic rice mills, at least 82 per cent of Naogaon's husking mills have closed, leaving about 35,000 drying-yard workers jobless and a few traders in control of the rice market.
With two seasons' aromatic rice unsold and prices falling, Dinajpur millers and traders are urging the government to lift the export ban before the new aman crop arrives.
The Ministry of Agriculture says Bangladesh has enough urea, TSP, DAP and MoP in stock to avoid any fertiliser shortage this aman season.
After rain in Asharh but none in mid-Srabon, aman farmers in Dinajpur face drought and are irrigating their fields to plant and save seedlings.
The price of every type of rice in Dinajpur's Birampur rose by Tk 4-5 a kg in a week, and traders blame a syndicate of mill owners.
Bangladesh's agriculture minister told a World Water Forum session in Bali that the country's rice output has more than quadrupled in 50 years.
A writer argues that the disappearance of the village paddy granary leaves farmers selling cheap, buying dear and exposed in any crisis.
BRRI has issued an advance heatwave warning for rice, advising farmers to keep water standing in fields and spray against blast and leaf diseases.
The Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) has issued an urgent warning that leaf blast and neck blast could spread widely in rice fields.
The Ganges-Kobadak (GK) irrigation project is failing to supply water as its ageing pumps break down and canals silt up, and the Planning Commission has recommended a new project.
Rice prices rose by up to Tk 6 a kg around last month's election but have fallen by at most Tk 2 at retail, despite the food minister's warning and daily anti-hoarding drives.
The food ministry fined several dozen establishments across the country on 29 January in drives against illegal rice hoarding.
Aman paddy production in Mirsarai, Chattogram, has beaten its target, with fine paddy selling at Tk 1,400 a maund.
