Arrangement of harvesting paddy for poor farmers through harvester machine under government initiative

Arrangements should be made to harvest paddy of poor farmers with harvester machines under the supervision of Upazila Agriculture Office through BADC immediately. Bangladesh Farmers Association Central Committee President Ad. SMA Sabur and General Secretary Kazi Sajjad Zahir Chandan said this in a statement today. Due to the ongoing lockdown across the country, agricultural laborers are not able to move freely from one region to another to harvest paddy. Wages of rice harvesters have increased due to shortage of rice harvesters. There is also uncertainty about selling rice. As a result, farmers are in dire straits with Boro rice.

The leaders said that immediately under the government management, the agricultural workers should take transport arrangements to Haor region and other regions for harvesting paddy. Due to labor shortage, most of the farmers are not able to harvest paddy on time. Arrangements should be made immediately through BADC to harvest paddy of poor farmers with harvester machines under the supervision of Upazila Agriculture Office. Every year the government buys paddy but the actual seller buys paddy through party syndicates rather than from the farmers. The up-to-date list of actual producer farmers should be distributed and the rice should be purchased directly from the producer farmers by distribution of agricultural cards.

The leaders also said that temporary warehouses should be constructed and government procurement centers should be set up at the union level. While the Prime Minister announced various incentives for farmers during Boro paddy harvest, the benefits mainly went to the agricultural machinery dealers, irrigation owners and syndicate groups. The announcement of incentives on the eve of paddy harvest is basically an attempt to assuage farmers' anger like every year. All kinds of incentives should be delivered to the real farmers.

The leaders said that BADC should be activated to reduce the cost of fertilisers-seeds-pesticides-agricultural machinery, reduce the cost of rural electricity for agricultural irrigation, provide uninterrupted irrigation, stop the lottery system and start government procurement centers at the union level and purchase rice from the actual farmers. Must purchase.