Paddy harvesters unavailable even at double wages

Ishwardi (Pabna) Correspondent :

Paddy harvesters are not available in Ishwardi even at double wages. Ripe golden paddy is shining all over the field. As a result, the farmers here are facing a major labor shortage.
According to the Upazila Agriculture Office, the target for Boro paddy cultivation in the current season was 2,635 hectares of land. But the cultivation has increased to 2,665 hectares of land. Which is about 30 hectares more than the target. The production target has been set at 12,993 metric tons.
Talking to several farmers, it is known that almost half of the number of workers or manpower required for cultivation in the Ishwardi region is met from the neighboring district of Natore. Every morning, more than a thousand workers come from Lalpur in Natore, which borders Ishwardi, to meet the local manpower needs. But this time, as the demand for workers in the fields of litchi and other vegetables along with paddy has increased greatly at the same time, there has been a shortage of workers in the region. Due to which, workers are not being found even at double wages.
Farmer Raihanul Kabir said, “Due to the shortage of harvest workers, this time we have to pay double the price for every bigha of paddy, from harvesting to threshing. Sometimes, even though we pay double the price, we still don’t get the workers. As a result, there is a possibility that the golden paddy will be destroyed in the field due to storms and rains.” Farmer Hasanul Mallick said that he has to pay 6-7 thousand taka per bigha to complete the work of harvesting and threshing paddy. This is the highest cost so far.
He said that he will have to pay losses to bring paddy home at this extra cost.
Istar farmer Adam Ali said, “Even though the paddy fields are ripe and the storm is raging, there is no cereal for the workers. Even if we give them cereal seven days in advance, the workers are not getting caught. If this continues, our crops will remain in the fields. We will not be able to bring the crops home in a healthy manner. Everything will be destroyed by the storm and rain. There are additional costs.”
Ishwardi Upazila Agriculture Officer Mita Sarkar said that this year in the Boro season, more paddy has been cultivated in Ishwardi Upazila than the target. The labor crisis has increased due to litchi. The target for paddy production on a total of 2,665 hectares of land has been set at 12,993 metric tons.