Farmer Mahbubur Rahman of Shalla Upazila said he has already started harvesting Boro paddy from 100 decimals of land. “I’ll finish harvesting within the next five to six days if the weather remains favourable,” he added.
Farmer Khairul Bashar Khan of Dharmapasha upazila said they are facing a shortage of labourers.
He said the local workers are taking advantage of the situation and hiked their wages.
Farmer Akmal Ali of Shanir Haor area said labourers from outside the district have already arrived for harvesting paddy but their number is not enough.
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He urged the DAE to arrange harvester machines to help the farmers.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said Bangladesh would not face any food crisis “if we can harvest the paddy properly (this season)”. She said it was an opportunity for day-labourers to earn money from paddy harvesting.
On Monday, she said the coronavirus will trigger a food shortage and may also cause a global famine. She said more food grains will be produced in Bangladesh in the coming days.
Hasina said the government will procure 8 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, 10 lakh metric tonnes of rice, 2,20,000 metric tonnes of atap (fine rice) and 80,000 metric tonnes of wheat.
"So, there’ll be no problem of food in Bangladesh in the future," she said.