Ishwardi (Pabna) Correspondent :
Golden rice in the fields of Ishwardi. The farmer’s yard is filled with the smell of new rice. In the villages of Ishwardi upazila, the traditional Bengali Navanna festival took place on Saturday. Men and women are competing in the field to harvest early Aman paddy. Cultivation of early varieties of paddy is becoming popular as it can be grown indoors.
Farmers say that due to the absence of natural calamities, this year there has been a bumper crop of early varieties of paddy. Also, after harvesting the paddy, they hope to make profit by planting other crops like potatoes, mustard, onions on the same land.
It has been seen on the ground that the farmers’ fields are decorated with the golden color of ripe Aman paddy in the elevated area of Ishwardi. In the fields as far as the eye can see only the golden form of ripe rice. Golden harvest ceremony all around. Golden dreams spread across the field. Farmers and working men and women are busy cutting, threshing and bringing home the rice.
According to the Agriculture Office, Aman has been planted on 3,660 hectares of land this year. Irrigation only had to be done at the time of planting. During the month of Ashwin, there was no need to irrigate the paddy fields because there was enough water in the few rains. This has also reduced the cost of farmers in paddy cultivation. This year, various varieties of Aman rice, including Bri 87, Bri-49, Bri-51-52, Bri-95, Bri-103, Bina-17, and Bina-7, have been cultivated.
Due to labor shortage, farmers are having trouble bringing home the ripe rice from the field.
Farmers say that workers are not available even with double wages. Wages of rice harvesting workers are high. Many people are taking rice home with extra remuneration. They claim that the cost of production will increase and they will face problems.
Farmer Adam Ali of Ista area is in trouble with ripe rice. He said, no local workers are available even with high wages. In such a crisis, if the workers cutting paddy cut a maund, they have to bring home a lot of paddy with laborers from other districts in exchange for 9-10 kg of paddy.