Make paddy cultivation profitable
Photo: KAKOLI PRODHAN / DRIKNEWS
Every government or political party talks about the betterment of the farmers but does not look into their problems deeply to really solve it. Moreover, it has become a popular style of the politicians and the leaders of many organisations to speak for minimising the plight of the farmers but in reality they do nothing. However, a recent report of this daily says that good yield of Boro paddy in Kurigram has failed to bring smile to the farmers due to its low market prices. It says that a farmer has received 16 maunds of Boro paddy from each bigha of land, which can be called bumper production. But the farmer has to incur loss this season as its price is about Tk 8000 in the local market while its production cost is about Tk 9000. In fact, if the paddy price does not increase this season, the farmers will lose their interest to cultivate paddy the next season. It may be mentioned that the government's paddy purchasing plan will not benefit the farmers because it would buy only 1.5 lakh tonnes of paddy and 9 lakh tonnes of milled rice. Farmers do not sell rice but paddy. So the millers and the middlemen will reap the benefit. Moreover, the government's rate is rather low for the farmers. We urge the government to adopt an all-out policy for making paddy cultivation profitable.
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