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Middlemen rule paddy market

Growers made to give 47kg instead of 40kg for a maund in Patuakhali markets

Our Correspondent, Patuakhali
Farmers in all the eight upazilas of the district have been compelled to sell their Aman paddy at 47kg a maund instead of usual 40kg, and in most cases they are not even getting their production cost.
A group of middlemen are taking benefits from the local paddy markets, depriving the fanners of fair price and proper measurement.
Aman is the main crop in Patuakhali and this year fanners got a bumper yield due to favourable weather condition and timely rainfall.
Every year, when the farmers start selling their paddy, a group of men take control of the local paddy markets.
There are a good number of paddy markets in the district, including Kalaiya Bazar, Boga Bazar in Baufal upazila, Ulania, Galachipa Bazar, Kalagachhia and Badura in Galachipa upazila, Baherchar, Koralia, Mowdubhi and CharMontaj in Rangabali upazila, Dhankhali, Mohipur,
Chakamoiya, Kalapara, Alipur, and Chaplee Bazaar in Kalapara upazila.
Many buyers from the northern districts throng to the area and buy Aman paddy for auto rice mills.
They later take the paddy to their respective destinations by cargo vessels or trucks.
Farmer Reaz Mridha of Dhankhali village in Kalapara upazila said he sold 100 maunds of paddy in the last one week and the middlemen on behalf of the buyers counted per maund at 47kg though all the others crops are counted at 40kg a maund.
He said although fanners are losing 7kg of paddy in every maund, middlemen say it is 'traditional measurement.'
Now each maund of paddy is selling for Tk 650 to Tk 700 while it was between Tk 500 to Tk 550 only a month ago, he said, adding that in most case they have to count loss as the production of per maund of paddy is about Tk 600.
Without any investment middlemen are
taking the profit from the paddy markets, farmer Abul Kalam of Badura village in Galachipa upazila said.
Mohammad Alauddin, president of Krishak Maitree, a platform of local farmers, said though digital scale is being used everywhere to measure all kinds of goods, traditional method is followed in measuring paddy.
Considering the interest of farmers, authority concerned should take necessary step in this regard, he added.
Patuakhali Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Deputy Director (DD) Hridoyeshwar Datta said a total of 2.02 lakh hectares of land have been brought under Aman cultivation in all the eight upazilas of the district this year and fixed a target of 4.37 lakh tonnes of rice.
Though DAE fixed target of 4.37 lakh tonnes rice production, the government will purchase only 9,408 tonnes from the district this year, the DD added.