Diesel Price Hike Fallout in North: Farmers stare at huge losses
They said harvesting of
Aman, now ongoing, and winter vegetables and Boro production would be affected
as the farmers mostly depend on diesel-run machines to cultivate, irrigate, and
harvest.
To explain the blow they
have been dealt, they said if a farmer, for instance, used to spend Tk 100 for
an hour of irrigation, he or she would now need to spend Tk 130. If they had
spent Tk 300 for cultivating, now they would have to spend Tk 450. If they had
spent Tk 150 to transport the produce of one bigha of land, now they would need
to spend Tk 200, said farmers.
It does not end there.
The farmers used to pay
paddy threshers with 10kg of paddy for every bigha's harvest they processed.
Now the threshers are asking for 20kg.
They said that the
additional burden of production cost would make them poorer.
Prof Saidur Rahman of
Bangladesh Agricultural University told The Daily Star, "Farmers will
suffer losses if they don't get fair prices. Their woes will compound if the
price falls due to good harvest."
He said farmers are the
unsung heroes. They kept on feeding the nation during the pandemic. "But
their protection needs have been ignored," he said, adding that the
government should immediately take steps to protect the farmers.
Farmers in the region of
Chapainawabganj, Naogaon, Natore and Rajshahi depend largely on groundwater for
irrigation most of the year.
According to the
Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), 48.50 percent of the region's
6,91,437 hectares of land, which need irrigation, rely on diesel-run pumps.
The department say that
there are around 5,464 low-lift pumps, 72,696 shallow tube-wells, and 471
semi-deep tube-wells in the region.
The use of combined
harvesters and other machines has increased in the region over the years. There
are 305 combined harvesters, 181 reapers, 27 planters, 42,771 power tillers,
1,541 tractors, and 33,518 threshers in the region that also run on diesel.
In Golai village of
Rajshahi's Godagari upazila, this correspondent met reputed farmer Boltu Sarder
on Monday. He was stacking his Aman paddy on a tractor-trailer he owns.
"I'm yet to feel the
pinch of the diesel price hike as I have stock. But transport service providers
have increased fares by Tk 200 for moving paddy of every bigha of land,"
said Sarder.
He said he was already
paying extra for threshing and winnowing.
"I used to pay them
10 kilograms of paddy for threshing paddy of one bigha of land. Now they are
demanding 20 kilograms.
"In crop production,
the rise of diesel price has a chain reaction. To be honest, if I sit and think
about the expenditure, I start to think of changing my profession," he
said.
Abdul Momin, another
farmer of the same village, said, "Power tiller owners used to charge Tk
300 for tilling every bigha of land once. Now they are charging Tk 450."
He said winter crops,
including wheat, lentil, chickpea, and mustard, need tilling of land twice
while paddy needs three times.
Abdul Hamid, a farmer
from Bohora village in Tanore upazila, said he used hopper machines for
winnowing paddy. Like the threshers, he said, hopper machine owners were asking
for 20kg of paddy instead of 10kg for winnowing paddy of every bigha of land.
Majed Ali, a farmer of
Godagari's Jogpur village, said he would cultivate mustard, wheat, and lentil
after harvesting Aman and before starting the production of Boro.
"But the pump owners
have already increased irrigation cost by Tk 30 for every hour of
irrigation," said Ali.
For preparing the land for
Boro, he said, he would have to spend Tk 1,350 on power tiller for every bigha
of land. The cost used to be Tk 900.
Abdul Jalil, a farmer of
the Chalan Beel area in Natore's Singra upazila, said, "With a good
harvest being a possibility, I'm now in a dilemma over whether to go for Boro
production this year."
Jalil fears fertilizer
prices would go up as the price of diesel has a cascading effect.
"I'm scared of not
being able to meet the production cost of Boro this year. I will try another
crop."
He said he used to grow
Boro on 80 bighas and needed to use at least 60 liters of diesel per bigha.
Nirmal Kumar Das of Mohor
village in Tanore provides irrigation, power tiller, tractor, and threshing
services to farmers.
"I have to raise the
prices of every service as I'm buying diesel at a higher rate. I can't survive
otherwise," he said.
Although diesel price is
now about Tk 80 per liter, Nirmal buys diesel for Tk 85 a liter from local
vendors in the remote Barind village under Talanda union. He has to transport
the diesel to the pump at the fields, Das said.
Contacted, Sirajul Islam,
additional director of the DAE Rajshahi region, said they were monitoring the
reactions in the field.
The government raised
diesel price by Tk 15 on November 4.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/diesel-price-hike-fallout-north-farmers-stare-huge-losses-2226876?fbclid=IwAR18VKBAraAb-1hd7aea7yBFxXVPnUGgZ3W2SC1yYZzEHgC8FALrUJW65zA
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