Farmers in Dinajpur and Rangpur are spending busy days in their fields to cultivate boro, the largest crop in Bangladesh. However, they are worried since the season would be pretty costlier for them because of the spike in the cost of farm inputs, including irrigation, diesel, fertiliser, pesticides and labour. As a result, the cost of production will be much higher this year than in the last boro season. And a large number of farmers, especially from the marginal group, are bearing the brunt of the higher expenses.
At least 5.04 lakh hectares of land have been brought under the Boro paddy cultivation in five districts in the Rangpur region: Rangpur, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Gaibandha. About 90 per cent of the cultivation target has already been achieved. In Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh, around 2.61 lakh hectares have been targeted for boro cultivation. Dinajpur and Thakurgaon have so far reached 84 per cent and 57 per cent of the target respectively, while Panchagarh has overshot the target by 104 per cent.
Farmers say they have to spend at least Tk 7,000 additionally on each acre just for the higher prices of the agricultural inputs. For the repeated losses in the last couple of paddy seasons, the growers are already under debt burden. Diesel is an essential part of agriculture, but the government hiked its price by Tk 15 per litre last year. It had cost Tk 2,000 to ready one acre of land before the diesel price was hiked in November. The prices of fertilizer and pesticides are also higher compared to last year.
The farmers have no option but to survive with the pressing price of agro input, while in most cases, farmers do not get back the investment in cultivating paddy. The government should increase the subsidiary in the sector to bring the essential foodstuff price control and ensure moderate profit for farmers.
