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Farmers hit hard by blockade

Sohel Parvez
**• Prices fall on supply glut at farmers' end
• Farmers in cash crunch
• Farmers struggle to pay instalments on loans**
Convinced that normalcy had returned after the political upheaval of last winter, Mohammad Shariful Islam, a small farmer from Bogra, bet big on winter crops this time.
In September last year, ahead of the harvesting season, he borrowed Tk 190,000 and ploughed the entire amount into growing cauliflower and potato - anticipating handsome returns, enough to make up for the previous season's losses.
But, as fate would have it, political turmoil returned with vengeance at the turn of the year, pulling Shariful and tens of thousands of farmers like him into dire straits.
"We are just doomed," said Mohammad Alauddin, a large farmer from Bogra, who invested a total ofTk
10 lakh to grow potato, onion, cauliflower and mustard but has so far managed to recover only Tk 3 lakh from the vegetables.
The non-stop countrywide blockade complete with highway arson since January 6 has brought about a supply glut at the growers' level and along the way, falling prices of vegetables and cash crunch for farmers.
But for the farmers, there are loan obligations to banks, microfinance agencies and local money lenders that
must be met.
"Right now, I have no cash in hand. I am losing sleep over how I am going to pay February's instalment," said Shariful, who paid January's instalment of Tk 16,000 by borrowing from one of his relatives.
"We grow crops to make some money. Let alone that, I am now in deficit," added the crestfallen 25-year-old farmer, who incurred losses of Tk 70,000 for the price crash of cauliflower alone.
He had to sell the winter vegetable for as low as Tk 40 a maund (40 kg), which in normal times would have been Tk 300-400.
His other winter harvest, potato, sold forTk 3.75-4 a kg at Mahasthan Bazar, the main vegetable wholesale depot in the northwest, on Saturday.
Were the situation normal, the price would have been double that. What is worrying for Shariful is the declining trend of the price of potato: even last week, the same quality potatoes sold at Tk 4.75-5 each kg.
So depressing is the situation that Rafiqul Islam, a farmer at Lalmonirhat, is holding back from harvesting the ripe potatoes in his fields. “There is no point - the demand is scanty and the prices are far too low."
Rafiqul, who also does shifts as a tractor operator, has been dealt with a twofold blow: he cannot bring out the tractor in this turmoil, the longest since 1996.
"That has severely hurt my cash flow," he said, adding that last month he could pay less than half of the monthly instalment ofTk 37,000 for the tractor he bought in June last year.
Farm machinery marketers have already reported a slump in recovery for the month of January.
Subrata Ranjan Das, business director of ACI Motors, said the recovery of credit given to buy tractors declined significantly in January from a year ago, while overall tractor sales fell 40 percent year-on-year to 185 units. The sales of other machinery have also dropped, Das added.
Sadid Jamil, managing director of The Metal (Pvt) Ltd, echoed the same. His company would usually receive Tk 18 crore in instalments for tractors purchased on credits. The amount plummeted toTk 10 crore in January.
"Ultimately, the falling recovery will affect banks from where we have borrowed," he added.
Manjur Ahmed, managing director of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB), said while the realisation of loans extended to farmers is yet to suffer, it will if the unrest drags on any longer.
Asked if the government is considering providing any special support to the farmers for their losses, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury replied in the negative.
This is bad news for farmers, particularly small and marginal ones like Shariful, as it will take a long time for them to shake off fallout of the losses.
"This is the second year in a row that we find ourselves in this situation. It is totally unjust."