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Fresh Aman fetching higher prices
AHMED HUMAYUN KABIR TOPU and KONGKON KARMAKER
Farmers are getting higher prices for Aman season paddy this year than the previous year, amidst apprehensions of a fall in yields for heavy rainfall and recurrent floods in the eastern regions.
This paddy accounts for the second-biggest amount of rice harvested in a year, or roughly 40 percent of the country’s annual rice production.
Farmers and millers said the relatively coarse grains are selling for over Tk 1,400 per maund (around 38 kilogrammes) now, up from Tk 1,100 a year ago.
“It appears that there is a deficit of both rice and paddy,” said KM Layek Ali, senior vice-president of the Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Mill Owners Association.
“Crops alongside rice stocks in households were damaged due to floods in the eastern region in August and September. Many farmers could not replant,” he said.
“This is the main reason for the increase in prices of paddy,” he added.
Data of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) showed that overall acreage of Aman paddy was at 58.34 lakh hectares this year, higher than that a year ago.
As of this week, 87 percent of the crop has been harvested, said a senior official of the DAE.
He said many farmers replanted Aman seedlings on the flood-affected areas and claimed that overall yield was good this year.
Chitta Majumder, managing director of the Majumder Group of Industries, a leading rice miller and importer, did not agree.
“Heavy rainfall and unfavourable weather affected crops in many areas. So, production suffered this year,” he said.
Majumder said some large rice mills were buying paddy over apprehensions that India might restrict export of rice to Bangladesh. But prices will fall if imported grains arrive, he said.
Rice prices began rising since March this year from Tk 47 per kilogramme at retail in February this year.
In October, coarse grains were traded at Tk 54.2 per kilogramme, up 20 percent year-on-year, according to data of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
However, the increase in prices have not brought joy for many farmers who had already suffered losses for floods, inclement weather and rising production costs.
Take the case of Abdus Salam, a farmer in Chatmohar upazila of the northwest district of Pabna.
He cultivated Aman paddy on 10 bighas of land and the entire field was submerged with rainwater for floods throughout the season.
Due to the massive waterlogging, most of the crops were affected. “So, I might get, at best, 10 maunds of paddy from each bigha this year,” he said.
“This is the lowest Aman production in the last few decades for me,” Salam claimed.
But, he said, if the price remains high, many farmers would be able to recover production costs.
Some farmers who did not see any flood also claimed a fall in yields.
Md Mokhlesur Rahman, a farmer of Harinakundu upazila of Jhenidah district, planted Aman paddy on five bighas of land.
“This year, I got a maximum of 13 maunds of paddy from each bigha whereas I bagged 17—18 maunds last year from the same field,” he said.
Farmers in the northwestern districts of Dinajpur and Rangpur reaped bumper Aman harvests this season, surpassing expectations.
However, Abu Belal, a 57-year-old farmer from Biral upazila of Dinajpur, is not that much upbeat.
He said production cost behind each bigha of land, including labour and transportation, stood at Tk 20,000.
During a conversation earlier this month, he hoped to get 28 maunds of paddy from each bigha and sell it for around Tk 35,000, as per rates prevailing in his locality.
“I am labouring to save costs and secure some profit margins,” said Belal.