Against this backdrop, the agriculture ministry in a missive to the Finance Division on January 1 requested that Tk 381 crore subsidy be granted to the farmers so as to enable them to tide over the fuel crises. Two months on, the finance division, which had promised action after Eid-ul-Azha, remains unresponsive to the entreaties of the agriculture ministry.

All these came to light in a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on agriculture ministry on Sunday. Taking stock of the situation, it has rapped on the knuckle of the finance ministry for the inaction.

The implications can be quite serious. The entire IRRI season, cultivation and harvesting put together, ranges from February 1 to May 15. The cultivation season has effectively ended, so that we shall reap what we sowed. It could mean a diminished IRRI harvest. When the floods had led to poor Aman harvest, IRRI assumed critical importance in the food security scheme of things. Actually, a whole lot of odds were stacked against us when the import prices of cereals soared on the back of severe output shortfalls in major rice exporting countries. Lower domestic production of rice coupled with import uncertainties and high procurement prices made it imperative for us to galvanise all our resources for the sake of ensuring a good IRRI harvest. This has unfortunately not happened.

The fertiliser subsidies offered by the government were off the mark in terms of timelessness. It seems the diesel subsidy which has not even been offered has had no target to miss. It has drawn a bigger blank than missing a target. How tragic! Our agriculture policy, when tested on a contingency criterion, can prove extra brittle.