For the peasantry 2018 was a bonanza year with buoyant agriculture output but, by the same token, it was a period of low prices of the staples they grew.
Farmers and officials said traders and importers reaped the benefits of larger agro-output, thus depriving both cultivators and consumers.
Growers started the year with a stroke of luck by getting handsome prices of vegetables during the January-February period.
But for the rest of the year, they failed to get even production cost for crops like rice, wheat, potato, oilseed, onion and others amid price debacle or harvest failure.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), the country produced 19.5 million tonnes of Boro rice and 2.35 million tonnes of Aus.
The farmers also grew 10.02 million tonnes of potato, 1.85 million tonnes of onion and 1.44 million tonnes of jute.
The target of producing 14.1 million tonnes of Aman rice from 5.65 million hectares of land might be exceeded this year.
However, oilseed, jute and wheat planters witnessed a severe crop loss due to unfavourable weather conditions and an outbreak of diseases.
AMAN
Farmers are said to have incurred losses this Aman season as the staple now sells at a rate between Tk 620 and Tk 660 per maund (40 kilogram).
It is much below the average production cost calculated by agriculture ministry at Tk 880 per maund in 2018, according to the Department of Agriculture Marketing (DAM).
Farmer Tajul Islam of Chandohor union under Singair sub-district in Manikganj said he got around 48 maunds of paddy from his 3.0 bighas (one bigha=33 decimals) of land.
"It cost me around Tk 37,000 (Tk 770 per maund) for production, but I sold at Tk 650 per maund last week," he told the FE on Thursday.
The DAE estimated Aman production cost rise by 8.5 per cent, but the DAM showed Aman paddy price witnessed a 38-40 per cent fall compared to last year's prices.
BORO
Farmers sold Boro paddy (hybrid) at Tk 550 to 600 per maund and high-yielding varieties like Brridhan-28 at Tk 600 to 680 in April-June period.
According to the DAM, the Boro production cost was more than Tk 920 per maund in the outgoing year.
After the declaration of rice procurement by the government and re-imposition of 28 per cent import duty, paddy prices began to increase from mid-July.
But farmers already sold their produce before that, Md Zainal Abedin, president of Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Labour Federation, told the FE.
He said millers and traders gobbled most of the benefits as the farmers themselves had to buy rice at much higher price later.
Mr Abedin said the government procured an all-time high of 1.4 million tonnes of rice in Boro season, all from traders and millers.
WHEAT
Persistent lower prices and a fungal attack dealt a double blow to wheat farmers in the outgoing year.
Wheat production declined by 12 per cent to 1.15 million tonnes compared to that of 2017, according to the data available with the BBS.
According to the DAE and DAM, wheat prices were only Tk 550-600 per maund when production cost was a minimum of Tk 720.
POTATO
Our Rangpur sources said farmers of the division sold 'granola' variety of potato at Tk 3.0-4.0 a kg in January-March period against the production cost of Tk 6.5-7.0 per kg.
Kamal Uddin, a farmer-cum-trader at Shatibari under Mithapukur sub-district has not collected potato from cold storage fearing losses.
Talking to the FE, he spoke of producing nearly 250 sacks (per sack 80kg) of potato in 2018 at 8 bighas of land with a Tk 0.128 million of investment.
Mr Uddin stored nearly 120 sacks of potato at a cold storage due to a fall in prices.
"The price has now come down to Tk 350-380 per sack, but the storage charge for the same is Tk 400," he deplored the fact.
According to the data of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), stored potato was sold at Tk 22-35 a kg over the year in Dhaka city.
ONION
Onion growers in Pabna, Natore, Kushtia, Rajbari, Faridpur and Jhinaidah got only Tk 12-16 per kg against the production cost of Tk 16-20, said DAM assistant director TM Rashed Khan.
The TCB data showed the same produce traded at Tk 30-65 a kg round the year.
JUTE AND OILSEEDS
According to the BBS, prices of raw jute and mustard oilseed were good, but farmers witnessed a 30-60 per cent crop loss in key granaries.
Farmers in Kushtia, Faridpur, Rajbari, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Manikganj, Sirajganj and Tangail incurred 20-25 per cent losses from jute and oilseed farming during the January-February waterlogging period and heavy rain in March-May.
The DAE's field service wing made the disclosure.
State-run Bangladesh Krishi Gobeshona Foundation executive director Dr Wais Kabir said price fall of farm produce hurt the farmers.
Gradual fall in prices might also force farmers to discontinue farming at a time when they have other choices to shift to.
"We have to find a perfect market mechanism in the interests of both producers and consumers contributing to the country's better food security," Mr Kabir said.
The year 2019 is beckoning to bring both optimism and concern for the farmers who want to forget the financial losses of the past year.
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