Farmers in the 16 northern districts have to bear additional cost of around Tk 965 crore for cultivating Aman rice this season compared to last season due to increased prices of diesel and fertilisers, according to Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) officials.
Bogra DAE office roughly calculated that cost of Aman cultivation has risen to Tk 12,775 per hectare from Tk 7,160 only due to raising of diesel and fertiliser prices. And total cost of Aman production per hectare this season may be double the cost last season.
Over 17.18 lakh hectares of land have been brought under Aman cultivation in the northern region with a production target of over 43.30 tonnes. Last season Aman was cultivated on 16.64 lakh hectares for producing 42.71 lakh tonnes.
Diesel price has been raised to Tk 53.43 per litre from Tk 38. 81 at Baghabari river port depot in Sirajganj from where it is supplied in the northern districts, DAE officials in Bogra mentioned.
And price of urea fertiliser has been increased to Tk 11.70 per kg from Tk 6 a kg and that of triple super phosphate (TSP) to Tk 68 a kg from Tk 34. Price of murate of potash (MoP), an essential input for Aman cultivation, has been raised to Tk 45.48 per kg from Tk 30.
Use of TSP cost Tk 3,060 per hectare on an average last season but this time it cost Tk 6,120 a hectare. And cost of urea per hectare was about Tk 900 last season while it has risen to Tk 1,755 this time, the officials said.
Farmer Chand Miah of village Shujabad in Shahajahanpur upazila of Bogra said he had to spend an additional amount of Tk 487 per hectare for ploughing his Aman cultivable land this season.
“ I spent Tk 160 per hectare for diesel last season but this time I had to spend Tk 225 a hectare for it,” he told this correspondent when he visited the area.
Another farmer of the same village, Abdul Mazid, said he spent Tk 6,750 per hectare for transplanting Aman seedlings this season while the expenditure for it was about Tk 4,500 a hectare last season.
Categories: Daily Bangladesh News
