Narsingdi Correspondent :
An acute crisis of labourers has been prevailing at the peak period of harvesting of Aman paddy in t six upazilas of the Narsingdi district.
The running Nabanna Utsab is seriously being hampered as the farmers cannot bring their new paddy home.
Following the crisis the cost of hiring labourers has also increased. It is to be mentioned here that harvesting of Aman paddy begins in almost all the districts of the country at this time of the year. As a result, crisis of labourers has reached its highest level all over the district.
After visiting Shibpur, Monohordi, Polash, Raipura, Belabo and Narsingdi Sadar upazila, it was found that the farmers have to pay extra money to cut their own paddy compared to that at the normal time, Farmers have to waste the whole day to find a helping hand to harvest their paddy.
Some land owners have to go door to door in search of labourers. Some of them lie in wait beside the fields where the labourers are already engaged so that they can hire them from the spot as soon as they finish their work.
In some places one can see a long line of land owners to rent and capture the day-labourers even by paying extra wages and other facilities. The scheduled time of harvesting paddy is about to expire in some upazilas of the district.
The land owners are facing extra problem as most of the labourers come from other villages and town areas for the work. There are generally two types of laboures in Narsingdi.
One is regular labour who earn their living by selling labour all the year round, while others are seasonal labourers who work at field at special occasions.
They are available in groups. Seasonal labourers come from different places and nearby districts. They work on contract basis.
The landowners prefer seasonal labourers as they work fast and finish the work in the scheduled time or to engaged themselves in next work to earn more. The labour cost has been increasing day by day.
Normally Tk 400 to Tk 500, with lunch is paid to the labourers but some times the wages may exceed Tk 350 to Tk 400 with lunch, but at present the wages have rose to Tk 450 to 550 with lunch, even then the land owners are ready to engage them at the present rate but workers are not available. It takes seen to eight day to find a labourer as a result, the paddy is becoming hollow inside. On the other hand, the new paddy price of paddy is decreasing day by day. Anwar Hossain a day labourer, said he has come from Monohordi to Narsingdi to cut paddy.
Korim Ali a farmer from Polash upazila in Narisngdi district, said if the government declared upper and lower limit of one day wages on the basis of season and situation, then the day labourers doesn’t take excess money and also the discrimination become less.
An acute crisis of labourers has been prevailing at the peak period of harvesting of Aman paddy in t six upazilas of the Narsingdi district.
The running Nabanna Utsab is seriously being hampered as the farmers cannot bring their new paddy home.
Following the crisis the cost of hiring labourers has also increased. It is to be mentioned here that harvesting of Aman paddy begins in almost all the districts of the country at this time of the year. As a result, crisis of labourers has reached its highest level all over the district.
After visiting Shibpur, Monohordi, Polash, Raipura, Belabo and Narsingdi Sadar upazila, it was found that the farmers have to pay extra money to cut their own paddy compared to that at the normal time, Farmers have to waste the whole day to find a helping hand to harvest their paddy.
Some land owners have to go door to door in search of labourers. Some of them lie in wait beside the fields where the labourers are already engaged so that they can hire them from the spot as soon as they finish their work.
In some places one can see a long line of land owners to rent and capture the day-labourers even by paying extra wages and other facilities. The scheduled time of harvesting paddy is about to expire in some upazilas of the district.
The land owners are facing extra problem as most of the labourers come from other villages and town areas for the work. There are generally two types of laboures in Narsingdi.
One is regular labour who earn their living by selling labour all the year round, while others are seasonal labourers who work at field at special occasions.
They are available in groups. Seasonal labourers come from different places and nearby districts. They work on contract basis.
The landowners prefer seasonal labourers as they work fast and finish the work in the scheduled time or to engaged themselves in next work to earn more. The labour cost has been increasing day by day.
Normally Tk 400 to Tk 500, with lunch is paid to the labourers but some times the wages may exceed Tk 350 to Tk 400 with lunch, but at present the wages have rose to Tk 450 to 550 with lunch, even then the land owners are ready to engage them at the present rate but workers are not available. It takes seen to eight day to find a labourer as a result, the paddy is becoming hollow inside. On the other hand, the new paddy price of paddy is decreasing day by day. Anwar Hossain a day labourer, said he has come from Monohordi to Narsingdi to cut paddy.
Korim Ali a farmer from Polash upazila in Narisngdi district, said if the government declared upper and lower limit of one day wages on the basis of season and situation, then the day labourers doesn’t take excess money and also the discrimination become less.
