The New Nation - Internet Edition

FARMERS must receive agricultural inputs at market prices which again should reflect true value and must not be manipulated ones set by profiteers. Both the subsistence needs of farmers as well as surplus produce for the markets will suffer when such price distortions are rampant telling on agricultural productivity. But reports are being received from different parts of the country about high prices and scarcity of different agricultural inputs. The Boro rice crop, most important of the two main rice crops of the year, is grown in the winter months. Potatoes, wheat and some other food crops are also grown during this season. Seeds and fertilisers at affordable prices are very important for the successful cultivation of these crops.

But reports from various parts of the country suggest that farmers are getting constrained as they cannot apply enough urea fertiliser on their lands due to its high price when the same is indispensable for Boro rice cultivation. Farmers are also in peril for not getting well supplied with other fertilisers. They are similarly suffering from high prices of diesel when about 40 per cent of the power pumps used to irrigate fields for winter time cultivation of different crops, specially Boro rice, are run by diesel. The inability to ensure easy and affordable supply of different agricultural inputs is bound to impact negatively on agricultural output in the coming months and this might create a burden to go for large scale import to make up for the shortfall in produce. For averting such an outcome as well as for the benefit of the farmers and to meet the needs of the economy, it is important to give very urgent attention to the problems of high prices and scarcity of inputs.

Adequate supply of agricultural inputs at affordable prices to farmers has become extremely important in the backdrop of the series of devastating floods and cyclone that battered the country in a row recently. The Aman crop has perished extensively in many parts of the country. The loss of Aman rice is feared to the extent of some 3 million tonnes and even this figure is considered to be a conservative one. Only a very successful production of the Boro rice and other winter crops in the coming months can significantly help the farmers and the country to recover notably from the losses caused by the natural calamities. But full agricultural recovery depends so much on ensuring smooth supply of agricultural inputs to farmers both in terms of quantity and price. The present situation demands the launching of a social campaign to motivate the people not to leave even an inch of land empty and sow any crop ranging from rice, wheat and potato to sweet potato and other legumes with a view to achieving a dramatic change.