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Low prices dull celebration of bumper harvest

Sohel Parvez
Farmers are set to bag another record harvest this year, which will cut imports further, easing pressure on the balance ofpayments, the country's external account.
Bangladesh's grain imports fell by 56 percent to 1.99 million tonnes in July-April this year, compared to the same period a year ago, according to data from the Directorate General of Food.
Rice production is likely to reach 33.83 million tonnes, the highest in the history of Bangladesh, in the outgoing fiscal year, thanks to favourable weather.
The total cereal output is expected to rise by 1 percent to 34.82 million tonnes in fiscal 2011-12.
In the next fiscal year, the Directorate General of Food plans to import 1.35 million tonnes of grain, which is likely to be announced in the next budget.
The government till mid-May of the current fiscal year imported around 0.96 million tonnes of rice and wheat.
However, a spike in paddy yield could not bring smiles to the majority of growers. Many are struggling to recoup their investments as prices continue to remain low.
Alter a gooa narvest or me main crop boro, the prices of the coarse and medium varieties are now at Tk 13-Tk 14 a kilogram, which is lower than the government's estimate of boro production cost at Tk 15.76 a kg for this year.
"It's a harsh reality. The prices of paddy are low but those of other essentials are high. Running a family only with agricultural income has become tough these days," said Abdul Motaleb, a small farmer at Kaunia in Rangpur.
"The current prices are lower than my production cost," said Motaleb, who grows crops by leasing lands from others.
The prices of rice have been on the decline since the second half of the present fiscal year depressed by a good harvest of the second biggest crop aman following increased aus and boro outputs last season.
A huge stock at public warehouses and market intervention by the government through various safety net schemes also contributed to afallin the prices of rice.
On the other hand, growers' production cost went up as the government hiked the prices of fertiliser along with fuel and electricity, which are linked with tilling and irrigation costs.
Keeping pace with high inflation, wages for farm labourers also marked a rise, squeezing farmers' scope to make margins at a time when the prices of other major crops — potato and jute — remained low.
To find a safe haven, many farmers shifted from rice and potato to other crops such as maize.
But maize also failed to cushion the growers against losses as demand for the
grains in poultry feed mills slumped after bird flu hit farms in the second quarter of the current fiscal year.
During the current fiscal year, potato production slumped by 82.05 lakh tonnes as acreage fell amid farmers' shift to other crops.
Production of cash crop jute also slid 4.68 percent to 80.30 lakh bales in the fiscal 2011-12 from a year ago, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
"Low prices have ruined us," said Md Moqbul Hossain, amaize grower in Bogra. "Rice growers are grappling with low prices alongwith us."
"We spend months to grow crop. If we can't make profit, our efforts of around six months will go in vain," said Hossain.
To help farmers get higher prices, the government has increased the purchase target of food grains from the domestic market to 1.35 million tonnes for the ongo-ingfiscalyear.
The food ministry had earlier said it would buy one million tonnes of boro — 0.1 million tonnes of paddy at Tk 18 a kg and 0.9 million tonnes ofrice atTk 28 a kg.
Nirod Boron Saha, a rice and paddy wholesaler at Naogaon, said millers have taken a go-slow stance to buy rice in the face of a lack of space at public warehouses.
"If we purchase higher quantity of paddy and the government cannot buy the produce because of space constraints, our funds will remain stuck," said the wholesaler.
Until last week, food stocks at public warehouses were 1.19 million tonnes meaning that space for 0.33 million tonnes wasfree.
"Against this backdrop, chances of an increase in the prices of rice are thin," he