Paddy farmers didn’t get fair price, agriculture minister admits

A slew of government measures to ensure fair prices of paddy produced by marginal farmers have not impacted the markets, Agricultural Minister Abdur Razzaque has admitted.

Parliament Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 Sept 2019, 10:26 PM
Updated : 12 Sept 2019, 10:26 PM

“The farmers have suffered immense losses as they did not get fair price for their paddy. They are quite agitated,” he told parliament on Thursday.
 
The demand for paddy dropped due to surplus in supply during the Boro season this year, leading to the fall in price, while the production cost increased, according to him.
 
“So, we took different steps to increase paddy prices. But the quick steps could not impact the markets much. Because it was not possible to buy paddy directly from the farmers as the silos did not have much place,” he said.
 
To prevent this in the future, he said, the government would make a list of farmers before the season.
 
The government was also investigating whether any officials were involved in the fraudulent practice, which allowed middlemen to rip off the farmers, Razzaque said.
 
“The prime minister is very sympathetic to the farmers. She has helped the farmers in different ways. So it can’t be that the farmers won’t get the fair price for their produces,” he remarked.
 
The minister said the government would push for use of technology in farming so that the farmers do not have to pay much for farm labourers.
 
“We will give subsidy so that the farmers can buy machines to plant and harvest paddy,” he said.