Al Amin :
The food safety in the country is likely to remain at risk due to the increased fuel oil price as food production has become costlier.
The fuel price hike put farmers in sore distress. At a time of Aman cultivation, tractor drivers have hiked their fare, and the cost of irrigation has gone up.
The higher production cost may discourage farmers to produce agri-products, experts said.
“Agriculture is the biggest part of the rural economy. Fuel oil is required for various works including irrigation. As farmers are not being subsidised now, the price of food crops and other agricultural products will rise,” said economist Prof Anwarul Qadir.
Shallow pumps are used to irrigate about 60 per cent of the total irrigated land. Around 11 lakh shallow pumps, out of 14 lakh, run on diesel in the country.
Many of the pumps also have to be kept standby and diesel engines also, so that the much-needed irrigation can continue, even if the power goes out during the pick time of boro season. On an average, around 300 litre diesels are required for per pump in boro season and for increased diesel price, every pump owner will have to count Tk 10,200 additionally.
According to this, the additional cost will be around Tk 1,100 crore for the 11 lakh shallow pumps and around Tk 200 crore for surface irrigation operated by around two lakh low-lift pumps.
Farmers will have to spend approximately Tk 1,300 crore more due to increase in diesel price only for shallow pump and low-lift pump irrigation for boro cultivation.
Besides, the price of urea fertilizer has also increased and it should also be remembered that farmers have to buy diesel and fertilizer at a price slightly higher than the government-fixed price at the retail level.
The prices of other commodities in the domestic markets have increased and the wages of agricultural workers have also increased. Farming has become very expensive.
Along with this, the prolonged drought has made the farmers, who plant early Aman paddy for potato cultivation, unable to plant
seedlings due to lack of sufficient water. Some are planting seedlings in some way with irrigation.
“Aman yields will be reduced if planted late and the drought prolongs further and it is very dangerous from the point of view of food safety,” said Prof M A Sattar Mandol, former vice-chancellor of Bangladesh Agriculture University.
“As the fuel oil price in the global market is on downward trend, it will be wise to adjust the price of diesel before the next boro season as much as possible,” he said.
“It should be remembered that Aman crop may not be promising due to various reasons. Therefore, for the sake of national food safety and security, additional attention must be paid to the future major boro crops at any cost. Food production must be given priority,” he added.
