Boro cultivation has brought smiles to the farmers of Madaripur district with a bumper yield this season. During a recent visit to different parts of the district, this correspondent found that farmers are busy harvesting boro paddy. Siraj Chokdar, 45, a farmer in Lakshiganj village of Sadar upazila, said, “I have brought several bighas of land under boro cultivation. This year's yield is quite good due to the favorable weather. The current price is also good – Tk 1,100 per maund. But if the price of paddy goes down, the farmer will lose,” he said. Read more: Bumper yield of Boro paddy brings smiles to Chapainawabganj farmers Merzon Khalasi, 50, another farmer of the same area, said that due to the increase in the price of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation and labour costs the production cost has shot up to Tk 800-900 to produce one maund paddy. Santosh Chandra, deputy director of District Agriculture Extension Department, said that 33,500 hectares of land have been cultivated in five upazilas of the district this year. Farmers have already harvested 80 percent of Boro paddy in the area and they are expected to benefit due to the bumper paddy yield and good market price of paddy, he added. Read more: 70% Boro paddy of haor areas harvested: Agriculture Ministry.

Seventy percent of the Boro paddy in haor areas have been harvested, the Ministry of Agriculture (Bangladesh) has said. In Sylhet, 55 percent paddy was harvested, in Moulvibazar 70 percent was harvested, in Habiganj 67 percent, in Sunamganj 73 percent, in Kishoreganj 58 percent, in Netrokona 77 percent, and in Brahmanbaria 67 percent of Boro paddy was harvested, according to a press release of the ministry today. Boro paddies were sown on 452,000 hectare of land in haor areas of seven districts this year.And a total of 953,000 hectares of Boro paddy has been cultivated in the highland outside of the haors. The production target is 40 lakh tonnes of rice, said the release. Read More: Record Boro production to be achieved this year: Agriculture Minister Recently, Bangladesh's Agriculture Minster Abdur Razzaque launched the Boro paddy harvest in haor areas of Sunamganj ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. At the time, he said if there was no natural disaster and rice can be brought home on time, there will be record production in Boro this year. He said only in Sunamganj, around 1,000 combined paddy harvesters are working, adding that there will be no problem in harvesting paddy this time. According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, Boro has been sown on 50 lakh hectares of land across the country this year, while the production target is 21.5 million metric tonnes of rice. Read More: Govt to procure 16.50 lakh tonnes Boro paddy, rice In the last fiscal year 2021-22, Boro rice was sown on 48,14,000 hectares of land, and about 20.2 million tonnes of rice were produced in Bangladesh, the release said.

Boro farmers in Chapainawabganj district are expecting bumper yield this season as cultivation has exceeded the target and weather remained favourable so far. According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), a total of 51,555 hectares of land have been brought under boro cultivation as the farmers are showing more interest in its cultivation . This year, the DAE has set a target to cultivate boro paddy on 51,150 hectares of land but the farmers cultivated 51,555 hectares exceeding the target, said deputy director of DAE, Palash Sarkar. They also expect to produce 2,35,606 metric tonnes of boro paddy this year, if the weather remains favorable and no crisis is created over fertilizer, pesticides and seed , he said. Also read: Food Minister for increasing zinc-enriched paddy cultivation During a recent visit to different parts of the district, this correspondent found that the farmers are passing busy time nurturing their green fields through irrigation, spraying pesticides and using fertilizers. Farmers are cultivating Ufsi and Hybrid varieties of paddy in their field as it is more profitable than the other varieties. Manjur Ali, a farmer in Sadar upazila said “I have bought eight bighas of land under boro cultivation. I did not face any shortage of seeds and fertilizers this year but the price of pesticides has shot up.” Akbar Ali, another boro grower, said “I have made a good profit after selling Aman paddy and no I have brought seven bighas of land under boro cultivation and there was no difficulty in irrigation due to uninterrupted power supply.” Abed Ali, another farmer in Dakkhinshohor area, said he has brought two bighas of land under Boro cultivation and the paddy plants are in good position. Besides, there is no attack of insects till now which created hope among them about getting bumper production of paddy.  

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Sunday warned that stern action will be taken against those who will try to destabilise the rice market in the country. The condition in the rice market must be monitored as well as make the Boro paddy procurement drive a success, he said in a virtual view-exchange meeting on ‘Boro 2022 season’s internal procurement and market monitoring’ at the secretariat. “If any attempt is made to destablise the rice market action will be taken against those involved in it irrespective of their party affiliation,” he warned. There is an unhealthy competition among traders to buy and hoard paddy thinking that it to be profitable but it will not bring good results, said the minister. Also read: Budget 2022-23: Govt to increase fertilizer subsidy to ensure food security Thinking that Russia-Ukraine war may trigger food crisis in Bangladesh, many are hoarding paddy illegally, said Nirod Baran Saha Chandan, president of the Naogaon Paddy and Rice Wholesale Traders’ Association, at the meeting. Noting that new rice is not coming to the market yet, Sadhan Chandra said the rice that is available in the market now is last year’s old rice. “So where is the new rice going?” he asked the mill owners. He also directed the mill owners to report to the officials concerned of the food department on how much paddy is bought by whom and who is marketing how much rice after crushing. Various corporate houses have started rice business, he said adding they are buying and packaging rice and selling those  in the market at higher prices. The minister also directed the officials of the food department to hold a meeting as soon as possible with the corporate houses involved in rice business. Meanwhile, many countries of the world including India have sent letters expressing interest to export wheat to Bangladesh, he said. Also read: No food shortage in country: Agriculture Minister The food minister also said nor’westers have damaged paddy in the northern parts of the country and it is important to ascertain the exact amount of losses in each district.

Rice is not just the staple food in Bangladesh, it is at the heart of overall life – culture, politics, and economy.  The price of the grain remains a sensitive issue for everyone – producers, consumers and policymakers. It affects poor consumers who have the major proportion of calories from rice. For producers, rice cultivation often accounts for a large share of annual household income.  Rice consumption in Bangladesh is growing every year. It was 36.3 million metric tonnes in 2016 and is expected to reach 39.7 million metric tonnes within a few years, according to Mordor Intelligence. Despite government interventions, stable production and almost insulated domestic market, consumers and farmers are suffering from the soaring price of rice. The debate goes on – for years and years, consumers are paying more, but the farmers are being underpaid. And queues of people behind mobile trucks and stores for subsidised rice are getting longer.

These days, farmers in Khulna district are a worried lot. Having grappled with drought and the unrelented heat wave for the past eight months, the farmers fear they may not be able to even recover the production cost of boro paddy this year. Though the farmers are now looking towards the government for some financial help, there has been word from the authorities concerned on the situation so far. "We expected a good harvest, but inclement weather played spoilsport in harvesting this year," said a farmer. Read Countrywide Boro paddy procurement begins In fact, the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in Khulna has set a target to produce 57,000 metric tonnes of boro paddy on 57,540 hectares of land this year, of which 21,000 hectares have been brought under the dry season rice cultivation in Dumuria upazila alone. Already, many farmers have harvested their paddy and threshing work is on. Boro is the dry season irrigated rice crop planted between December and early February and harvested from April to June. Also read: Govt to buy 11.50 lakh mts Boro rice

Even after hail storm and insect attack, this season Boro crop has provided a good yield for farmers in Sylhet’s Bishwanath upazila this year. Cultivation of Boro paddy has exceeded the target there. Already Boro on 1.6 thousand hectares of land has been harvested and the farmers are happy at the super yield this year. Most farmers are busy harvesting ripe paddy. Also read: Jagannathpur farmers fret over stagnant water as boro yield hit There is no labour crisis this year and the government is providing subsidized rice harvesting machines. According to the Upazila Agriculture Extension Department, the target for borough cultivation in Bishwanath this year was set at 7.2 thousand hectares of land. Already Boro crop have been cultivated over 7.3 thousand hectares of land. Read Farmers in Laxmipur char leading the way in vegetable production The target for paddy production is 35 thousand metric tons this season. Farmer Jaber Ahmed of the upazila said, "I have cultivated Boro paddy at low cost without insecticides. Compared to other seasons, this time the yield has been as expected." “We are also happy getting a good price of paddy in the market," he added. Also read: Severe cold threatens Boro seedbeds in Kurigram Bishwanath Upazila agriculture officer Kanak Chandra Roy said farmers have already harvested 22% of the planted paddy and several sophisticated rice harvesting machines have been distributed among the farmers at subsidized rates. He further said, farmers will undoubtedly benefit from the good yield of Boro paddy this season. Due to low rainfall this year, the haor areas are not still filled with water and several crop fields are still visible. Read The curious case of onion 'lifting’ in Satkhira

This year, many farmers in the haor areas of Sunamganj's Jagannathpur upazila have still not been able to prepare boro paddy seedbeds due to "water stagnation in their farmlands".

A cold snap, disrupting life in the northern part of Bangladesh, will likely to damage the Boro seedbeds if the weather does not improve and potentially trigger a seedling crisis.

A high production cost and low prices of the products have led to a decline in boro cultivation in Faridpur over the years as frustrated farmers go for cash crops.