A NATIONAL daily report said on Wednesday that to irrigate the boro crop, 12.67 lakh pumps out of 16.57 lakh pumps are running with more expensive diesel while the government feeds electricity to 3.90 lakh pumps which lucidly shows the government’s inability to feed electricity to over 75 percent of irrigation pumps resulted in increasing boro cropping cost for the overwhelming majority of the farmers. The boro producing farmers will lose tremendously as they don’t get power supply for operating irrigation pumps which increases the production cost of the boro crop by using expensive diesel driving machines. It has created resentment among the boro cultivators across the country.
Boro cultivation is suffering as large areas of land cannot be irrigated properly due to shortage of electricity supply during the peak sowing season. But in absence of adequate power supply, the machines have remained mostly unutilised. Irrigation on about fifty percent of land of Irri-boro cultivation depends on power-run deep tube-wells and shallow machines, according to DAE officials. A few PDB officials expressed apprehension that the power outage will take a serious turn when the peak period of irrigation begins within a short time. In one hand, government is failing to supply adequate electricity for boro irrigation; on the other hand frequent load-shedding accompanied by fluctuation and low-voltage of electricity is causing damage to the irrigation machines, which has made the crisis more intensified. It has also worried farmers who fear losses as the expenditure will go up due to costly diesel-run pumps instead of electricity-run deep tube wells and shallows for irrigation activities.
According to Agriculture Ministry data, it costs a farmer five percent more to raise his boro crop using diesel-run pump compared to his compatriot who uses electricity-run pump, though they sell their produce at the same price. Irrigating each acre of boro crop costs a grower using electricity-run pumps between Tk 3,000 and Tk 3,600 compared to between Tk 4,500 and 5,400 for using diesel-run pump. Some cultivators complained that they were getting smooth supply of electricity only three to four hours a day but at least 10 hours of power supply is needed to manage irrigation in boro land. Cultivators are totally dependent on irrigation pumps as water bodies like beels have dried up due to lack of rain this summer, and production shortfalls could occur.
So, experts suggest that the disparity could be bridged either by feeding electricity to all the irrigation pumps or by supplying diesel for running irrigation pumps at subsidised rates. Besides, government may adjust the price of diesel used for irrigation as the oil price has drastically reduced in international market. We should look at our cultivators’ agony when they produce boro paddy due to shortage of adequate power supply.
