PHOTO: S DILIP ROY

S DILIP ROY, MOSTAFA SHABUJ and DWOHA CHOWDHURY

The recent diesel price hike has made service providers increase charges for harvesting the largest rice crop, Boro, irrigating farmlands, and threshing the cash crop maize-- and farmers are struggling to cope.

Costs soared because of a 15 percent hike in the price of diesel, a key fuel used by nearly 15 lakh shallow tube well pumps to water the Boro fields.

Farmers in four haor districts of Sylhet also depend on nearly 1,500 combine harvesters -- run on diesel -- for bringing their crops home.

The government increased fuel prices on April 19 to cut subsidy payment pressure on the state coffers in the wake of increased import costs.

It coincides with a time when farmers have started harvesting Boro paddy, particularly in the Sylhet region, where a majority of the paddy fields require irrigation.

“Now machines are needed for harvesting and threshing paddy and shelling maize-- everything. With diesel price rising, all costs have gone up,” said Mozammel Haque, a farmer in Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat.

The 65-year-old farmer cultivated Boro paddy on 12 bighas and maize on 10 bighas this season. He harvested a portion of the ripened paddy using a diesel-powered harvester machine on Monday.

This year, he has to pay Tk 850 to Tk 900 to harvest the crop per bigha, up from Tk 750 to Tk 800 per bigha in the previous year.

“I am worried whether I would be able to recover my costs after selling the crops.”

In Sylhet, where Boro paddy is harvested early, thousands of farmers rely on combine harvesters for faster harvesting. But the cost of renting a combine harvester has doubled in some areas in the Haor.

The rate of harvesting paddy on one acre of farmland has jumped to Tk 7,500 this season, up from Tk 4,500 to Tk 5,000 in the previous Boro season.

Selim Raza Chowdhury, a farmer from Razapur Union in Sunamganj’s Dharmapasha upazila, said he offered up to Tk 12,000 to harvest one acre of his Boro paddy, and still could not manage to rent a combine harvester.

“With excessive rates and lower paddy prices in the market, it is becoming impossible for us to cover the harvesting and processing expenses,” he said.

Shahibur Rahman, a 55-year-old farmer in Rangpur sadar upazila, said the rent of harvesters and maize threshers increased within a single day of the diesel price hike.

While it costs an additional Tk 250 to Tk 300 per bigha to harvest paddy, for maize the hike is higher-- Tk 400 to Tk 450.

Sirajul Islam, a harvester operator in Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat, said about two litres of diesel are required to harvest paddy on one bigha of land.