Protect our farmers from their grievances
The July uprising revealed two distinct images: one of an urban political massacre and the other of silent observation from the villages. Though the clashes during the July protests did not spread to the countryside, its messages were conveyed to the rural people, especially the farmers. Those farmers began envisioning a future free from exploitative input costs, unfair crop pricing, and bureaucratic corruption. Sadly, those dreams remain largely unfulfilled. The benefits of government subsidies for essential agricultural inputs like fuel, electricity, and fertilisers are still not reaching the farmers, who need them most. Who enjoys those benefits, then?
Let's look at a few examples.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Cauliflower growers in Bogura have faced hardship this winter. On December 28, the price of cauliflowers was Tk 2-3 per kg at Mohasthan wholesale market. On the same day, I visited a kitchen market in Dhaka's Mirpur area, where cauliflowers were selling at Tk 30-40 per kg. A Mohasthan trader explained that transport to Dhaka raises the cost of one kg of cauliflower by Tk 8-9, suggesting a retail price of Tk 12-15 per kg in the capital. The additional Tk 15 charged in Dhaka goes entirely to the market middlemen. Meanwhile, farmers in Bogura lose Tk 15,000-20,000 per bigha (33 decimals) due to low prices.
Meanwhile, according to the field wing of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), potato cultivation this season reached record levels, with 5.24 lakh hectares planted nationwide, compared to 4.56 lakh hectares last season. Driven by past high prices, farmers expanded potato acreage, hoping for greater profits. However, current prices are so low that farmers can't recover their investments. In the northern districts, various kinds of potatoes are being sold at Tk 8-10 per kg, while production costs are around Tk 15-17 per kg.
On the other hand, potato storage costs have risen by Tk 1 per kg, from Tk 7 to Tk 8, as announced by the Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA). Due to the sudden fall in prices and the increase in storage costs, farmers in the northern region protested the move by throwing potatoes on the streets recently.
According to the DAE, Bangladesh's annual potato demand is around 90 lakh tonnes, but this year's production is projected to be around 1.20 crore tonnes, creating a potential surplus of 30 lakh tonnes. According to the BCSA, the country's 350 functioning cold storage facilities have a combined capacity of only 45 lakh tonnes. Historically, potato exports have been minimal, averaging just 50,000 tonnes annually over the past nine years, per the DAE data. Even doubling the exports to 100,000 tonnes this year leaves a staggering 29-lakh-tonne surplus. Farmers and cold storage owners are left wondering how this surplus will be managed.
On February 8, at a press conference, BCSA President Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu claimed that potato prices would not exceed Tk 40 per kg this year, asserting no price manipulation. This raises a serious question: when the wholesale market price of potatoes is now Tk 10 per kg on average, why will the price rise to Tk 40? Farmers are incurring losses by selling potatoes at Tk 10 per kg, while middlemen and traders are making profit of Tk 30 per kg.
Similar struggles plague farmers of other crops. Onion growers in Kushtia and Pabna, for instance, have suffered losses of Tk 50,000-60,000 per bigha, according to a recent report in this daily.
Rice cultivation offers little profit to Bangladeshi farmers. Over the past two years, farmers have struggled to cover expenses of growing rice. According to the auto rice mill owners and farmers in the northern districts, producing rice from paddy costs only Tk 40-42 per kg, yet consumers have to pay Tk 65-70 per kg at the retail market right now. The disparity is even greater with fragrant rice (Chinigura). In Dinajpur, farmers told me that the production cost of fragrant rice is Tk 50-52 per kg, while packaged rice sells at a staggering Tk 145-150 per kg. This massive price difference remains unexplained by traders and government agencies alike, raising questions about the government's role in addressing this market anomaly.
Is that all? The production cost is increasing year after year in every sector, from buying seeds to producing crops. Market players, against whom the government takes little action, benefit from inflated market prices, incentivising farmers to cultivate more land, often leading to losses.
According to recent media reports, this year, seed and fertiliser prices have surged for potato and Boro paddy cultivation. Even under the interim government, potato growers bought seeds from the government at nearly double the fixed price. During the potato season, farmers from the northern area bought TSP fertiliser at a price that is Tk 350 more per sack than the government fixed price. Alleged artificial shortages are driving up prices, while government oversight (surveillance) remains ineffective, while farmers bear the brunt of it. Even in the current Boro paddy planting season, farmers have to spend almost Tk 3-4 per kg more than the price set by the government to buy almost every variety of fertiliser.
Even two decades ago, Bangladeshi farmers relied on traditional methods to grow crops, using their seeds, organic fertilisers, and Indigenous technology. Pest infestation was less severe, resulting in lower production costs. Today, the irony is that technological advancements have paradoxically made farmers more vulnerable in terms of increasing production costs. They are now more dependent on external inputs (technologies) for everything, from hybrid seeds to threshing crops. Now, big industrial enterprises have created a big profit market in these places by supplying technologies and other facilities. Thus, both farmers and consumers are trapped in an inflated commodity market.
The reality is, farmers are taking out loans to cultivate crops, and they have to sell them at low prices without taking the crops home to pay off the loan as soon as possible. As a result, the crops that the farmers are producing, they themselves are not able to consume. At the beginning of the season, after selling their own produced crops at low prices, they have to buy them from the market again at higher prices for the rest of the year. What could be a bigger grievance for a farmer's family than this?
The interim government has formed several reform commissions to address public demands. However, these commissions have been formed on issues raised by intellectuals and government affiliates, neglecting the distant voices of farmers.
There is no doubt that the agricultural system of Bangladesh is going through an uncontrolled, mismanaged situation. Farmers, tempted by the previous year's high prices, often overproduce, leading to losses. Essential imports are often ill-timed, exacerbating market imbalances. Government offices struggle to accurately convey field-level realities to policymakers. Farmers are disconnected from the government, lacking timely support, even during natural disasters. The absence of a strong national-level farmers' organisation and effective political representation further silences their concerns. The suffering of marginal farmers is not reaching the government.
The reality is, our farmers are not doing well. We should remember that if the farmer suffers, every citizen in the country will suffer. Therefore, protecting our farmers and, if necessary, creating a permanent commission to solve their grievances are the need of the hour now.
Mostafa Shabuj is a journalist at The Daily Star.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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