Farmers in the country’s northern districts have been compelled to bear additional costs, compared to the last season, in cultivating Aman paddy this season because of price hike in irrigation, seeds, labour and some other related aspects.
Sources at the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) offices in these districts said they generally fixed the cultivation cost based on the assumption of the production volume after the sowing period.
According to the DAE, the farmers of the 16 northern districts have spent about Tk7,018 crore for Aman cultivation this year on more than 1 million hectares of land, of which targeted production was 2.8m tonnes of rice.
On the other hand, farmers spent about Tk6,813 crore last year to produce 2.716 tonnes Aman rice on 1.02m hectares of land.
Bogra DAE Deputy Director Chandi Das Kundu said the production cost of Aman paddy had been estimated at Tk16.46 per kilogram this season. Last year it was Tk16.42.
The DAE had calculated per-hectare production cost to be Tk68,000 on the basis of a field-level survey; the figure was Tk67,000 the previous year.
As a result, Aman cultivation will see an additional expenditure of about Tk583.06 crore this season to achieve the production target, the DAE official said.
A landlord named Mohammed Al Emran Sarker Ratan of Kalingira village in Ghoraghat upazila of Dinajpur said he had spent about Tk14,000 to cultivate a land of 100 decimal, which was Tk3,000 more than the last season.
A farmer named Nurun Nabi of Phulbari village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila said he had spent about Tk4,000 for Aman cultivation on 81 decimal of land, but this year’s cost was Tk5,000.
Another farmer named Mafizur Rahman of Bhagroil village under Nachol upazila in Chapainawabganj echoed them.
Chandi Das Kundu advised farmers to adopt mixed fertiliser and the alternative wetting and drying technology for irrigation, which lessens cultivation cost remarkably.