Lalmonirhat, Aman Paddy is in full swing. Agam paddy farmers are dreaming of winning manga when low income people are worried about the increase in commodity prices. Farmers are happy to bring rice home. They are recovering a lot of losses by getting good yield and price of rice.
It has been seen on the ground that, along with men, women workers are also working at an equal pace. Some are cutting paddy and some are taking it home. Some are threshing paddy in the fields and backyards.
It is known that harvesting and threshing of early variety Aman paddy has started in five upazilas of Lalmonirhat this month. As the price of paddy is good, the farmers are also happy.
On the other hand, agricultural workers are prosperous because of higher wages. It has become difficult to get agricultural laborers to cut and thresh paddy. Workers are not available even with 300 to 500 taka per day attendance.
According to the Agriculture Office, in the current Amon season, Amon cultivation has been done on 12 lakh 86 thousand 49 hectares of land in eight districts of Rangpur division in the northern region. The target production has been set at 35 lakh 59 thousand 963 tons of rice. Out of this, hybrids including early varieties have been cultivated in about 7 lakh hectares of land which is 43 percent of the total arable land.
It has been seen in various markets that paddy is being sold at the rate of 800 to 1000 taka per maund. Farmers are very happy with the price of paddy.
Farmers said, this time, despite the increase in the price of fertilizer, they have cultivated paddy. Last year, it cost one to one and a half thousand taka to cut and thresh one bigha of paddy. This time almost three times more wages have to be paid, yet there is a labor shortage. Currently, the price of rice is relatively good.
Azizul Islam, a farmer of Saptibari union of Aditmari upazila, said, “The harvesting and threshing of three bigha of land has been completed. By getting paddy in advance, this month of Kartika, Manga has been removed.
Alauddin Sumon, a member of Jagatab Union Parishad of Patgram Upazila, said, ‘The yield of rice has been good due to less insect attacks. Farmers are happy to get good yield and price of paddy.
Hamidur Rahman, Deputy Director of Lalmonirhat Agricultural Extension Department, said that this year more land has been cultivated than last year. Paddy yielded as expected. Meanwhile, there was no damage even in the adverse weather. Farmers are also happy to get early paddy in this month of Kartika.
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