Himu's Window

This article first appeared on The Daily Star The yield was good, the weather was favourable for harvesting Boro paddy and the prices too were acceptable, if not fair, to farmers. Still, the harvest failed to bring smiles to the faces of most small and marginal farmers in the Barind region as they can only expect to take less than one fifth of their harvest home after paying off loans and the landowner's share. Alfaz Uddin, for example, harvested Boro paddy from 1.34 hectares of land at Kashimpur Beel. He owns only 0.27 hectares of it and the remaining 1.07 hectares he took on lease. "My share of paddy is very little," the 50-year-old farmer told The Daily Star, while gazing at the heap of ripe Boro paddy on his land. A small farmer, Alfaz hoped the total production would be around 8.21 tonnes from the land. "But I will be able to take home no more than 1.5 tonnes of paddy after paying all the expenses including loans and the landowner's share,"

With over 50 per cent of mangoes yet to be harvested, the nationwide lockdown beginning yesterday has upended the normal marketing system, upsetting the already disappointed farmers of Rajshahi region. Mango prices that were already low over the prevailing lockdown in Rajshahi region dwindled further after the nationwide lockdown, the farmers said. The mango variety Fazli has appeared in local markets early this week and started selling at Tk 25 per kilogramme against prices of around Tk 40 per kilogramme during the lockdown last year. Fazli prices went down to Tk 17 per kilogramme yesterday. Quality mango varieties like Himsagar, Khirsapat and Langra that are still available, are selling better yet at lower than normal prices. Green mangoes of these varieties that sold at above Tk 60 per kilogramme a few days ago went down to Tk 55 per kilogramme. Ripe ones that were sold at Tk 37 per kilogramme two days ago went down to Tk 32 per kilogramme. At normal times, these varieties wo