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Poor farmers can t reap high Boro price

They are forced to sell at cheap rates to moneylenders

Star Report
With Boro harvest having started across the country, marginal farmers in northern districts who borrowed money to meet high production cost are now forced to sell rice to moneylenders and hoarders at prices cheaper than the governmentrate.
While borrowing money, these small farmers had to sell a portion of their Boro harvest to the moneylenders and hoarders in advance. In some cases, part of the harvest is even considered as interest against their loans.
The government has set Tk 720 as the price for procuring a maund of Boro paddy but many farmers were found selling their harvest at as low as Tk 250 per maund in Pabna, Tk 500 in Gaibandha and Tk 650 in Rajshahi.
Experts say such sales could be prevented if farmers had adequate access to credits to buy agricultural inputs and the government had declared the cash or other subsidies beforehand.
The government expects the Boro harvest would cross the target
of 1.75 crore tonne as more than targeted 45 lakh hectares of land was cultivated and the yield was good.
The marginal farmers in most places in Pabna borrowed money from moneylenders and were forced to sell their paddy even before harvesting, reports our correspondent Ahmed Humayun Tapu in Pabna.
Nabir Uddin Miah of Saikola village in Chatmohor upazila borrowed Tk 15,000 from a local moneylender and sold 50 maunds of paddy at Tk 250 per maund as per agreement at the time of borrowing.
In Sujanagar upazila, farmers borrowed money under a different arrangement. "Besides repaying the money we borrowed, we will have to give paddy to tlic lenders as interest against the loans. The interest against Tk 1,000 in just three months is one maund of paddy," said Mazhar Hossain, a farmer of Manikhat village.
Similar practice was also found in vast areas of Faridpur, Bhangura and San thia.
According to statistics of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) .some 68,526 hectares of land in Pabna were brought under Boro cultivation against the target of65,000 hectares. The production target was set at 3.09 lakh tonnes, but the yield would be over 3.5 lakh tonnes.
"I sold five maundsof Boro paddy in advance at a rate of Tk 500 per maund to pay the moneylender. I had no alternative to borrowing money from him," said Kachu Sarker, a farmer in Ruper Bazar under Gaibandha Sadar upazila, reports our correspondent in Gaibandha.
Many small farmers in the remote areas of Gaibandha were compelled to harvest even before the crop got ready for harvesting.
Moneylenders in these areas invest huge amount of money for advance purchase of paddy during peakseason.
Our correspondent Anwar .Ali in Rajshahi reports: Hoarders were seen roaming around crop fields and stocking the new produce in godowns. Farmers said most of these seasonal hoarders lent them money during cultivation and now they are claiming their produce.
Mozammel Haque, who opened a godown to collect paddy at Ayhai market under Godagari upazila. said.
"Some eight hoarders collect nearly 1,000 maunds of paddy daily from farmers."
Asked about the purchase rate, he said, "The rate will come down to Tk 650 within a week when the paddy starts arriving at the markets heavily." He claimed that he himself did not lend money to fanners but most hoarders are engaged in this practice.
Hashem, a farmer at Panihar who borrowed money from a hoarder, said," I will sell the crop to him and he pledged to give me the present market rate."
Requesting anonymity, a few farmers said the hoarders-cum-lenders make promises of paying the market price but they do not keep their promise Ironically, the farmers also cannot sell their harvests to others as they had borrowed money from these people.
Asked if the government has taken any measure to prevent such activities
of the hoarders, DAE Director (field services) Dr Shahidul Islam said. "In a free market economy, the government has nothing to do but develop the overall market management to contain their activities."
The government has fixed the rates for procuring paddy and rice for this season, offering a possible 35-45 percent profit to the growers so that hoarders cannot deprive them, he said.
Research Director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies M Asaduzzaman said. "If the government had declared the subsidies to farmers beforehand, these small farmers would not have sold rice at lower prices. The trend could also be checked if the government had declared its procurement rate earlier"
He recommended taking measures to make credit available to farmers.