THAT the paddy producers are not getting enough prices for their produce even to recover the cost of production, let alone have a profit margin, has been a nagging problem. This is more so for the rice growers in the haor (large water body) areas … [but] farmers in most villages across the country are facing the same problem. Bumper rice harvests for three consecutive years have compounded their problems although the country is in a dilemma how to strike a balance between [the] un-remunerative price of rice and making the staple available to the consumers within their affordable range.

…Much of this problem owes to the raging inflation of almost every conceivable commodity, except rice, one has to purchase from the market. Even the agricultural inputs have become costlier up to three times or even more. Further, the government’s rice procurement drive has proved a total failure. … The middlemen, rice millers and hoarders are making the most of the situation arising out of failed procurement drives.

…Clearly, apart from the need for facilitating adequate supplies to the market to help maintain price stability, there are also other considerations the government has to be fully aware of. Farmers … have to be brought under a comprehensive agricultural plan with the provision for government intervention…. The Sidr-ravaged areas are badly in need of emergency government intervention…. As for the price support, it would be advisable to subsidise inputs and launch [an] effective rice procurement drive immediately after harvests, while taking all-out measures to curb irregular, unfair and corrupt practices which deprive the growers of its real benefits. If rice cultivation continues to prove no longer cost-effective, farmers will feel discouraged and leave lands fallow causing shortage in cereal production. That is not a good prospect for the country. — (Nov 20)