Aman growers here have been incurring huge losses over the past few years. Although they have gone for paddy cultivation this year, a drastic fall in the price of rice and paddy in the current season has left them worried. The farmers are demanding that the government purchase paddy directly from them so that they can get the price fixed by the government.

Sources in the Department of Agriculture Extension (DoE) in Bhola say that this season transplanted Aman paddy had been cultivated on 179,283 hectares with a production target of 537,849 metric tonnes of rice in seven upazilas of the district. During a visit to Char Annada village in Sadar upazila, it was found that the paddy plants were in a flowering stage. Farmers are expecting a good yield this season due to favourable climatic conditions.

Paddy farmers Alamgir and Hanif told this correspondent that they cultivated Aman paddy on five acres of land this season, though they had incurred a loss of about Tk. 50,000  in the last Boro season.

They said the farmers were losing interest in paddy cultivation due to a steady fall in rice and paddy prices in recent times.

Aman growers urge the government and the food department to directly purchase paddy from them at prices fixed by the government during the harvesting time.

During the last Boro season, the growers were deprived of the fixed price due to middlemen playing a big role in procurement, they alleged.

One paddy farmer, Abdul Baraque, said the buyers were happy because the price of rice in the open market was below the expected price, but the growers felt frustrated as they failed to cover their production cost.

When contacted, Binoy Krishna Devnath, deputy director of the aDoE in Bhola, said they expected a good Aman yield this season because of favourable conditions.

He, however, admitted that the farmers were frustrated over falling paddy and rice prices.