Farmers’ farming cost to rise, a threat on food security

Staff Reporter :
Though the marginal farmers of the country have been facing multiple problems like high cost of fertilizers and other related materials to produce their agricultural products, and the price hike of electricity added more difficulties to them further.
So, the farmers fear that their costs of products will increase and they won’t be able to earn any profit by selling their products in the markets if the government takes any initiative in this regard.
Many marginal and crop-sharer farmers have expressed their resentment to this correspondent saying that they will stop to produce agricultural products if not get proper price, which is a great threat on food security.
Meanwhile, the Food Ministry has failed to achieve the target to procure Aman rice and paddy as the ministry has extended its deadline till March 7 to fill up the target.
The food ministry earlier had set a target to buy a total of 0.8 million tonnes of rice and paddy during the period between November 17, 2022 and February 28, 2023.
According to experts, there is a forecast regarding shortfall of food globally in the days to come, so the government has to take farmers friendly decision to increase the food production in the country.
Whatever the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank (WB) have prescribed the government to reduce incentive in agricultural sector in terms of getting loans, but the government has to take decision cautiously to encourage the country’s farmers to increase the food production by providing various incentives, the experts observed.
Against this backdrop, the Agricultural Minister Md Abdur Razzaque on Thursday said that the farmers’ income will reduce due to frequent price hike of electricity, but the production of agricultural products will not decrease.
Admitting the effect on agriculture because of power price hike, he said, “The frequent price hike of electricity will have some effect on agriculture. If the crops are not watered, the production will be low and surely farmers will have to suffer. Definitely farmer’s income will decrease and they will be deprived from getting the profit they supposed to get.”
“Electricity prices have been increased by 15 per cent in three rounds at the retail level in the last two months. Power is needed to keep continue economic activities. As agriculture is our fundamental sector as the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has also given utmost importance to this sector. As such, we have given various incentives and subsidies on various materials like fertilizers, chemicals, water and irrigation. So, price hike of electricity will some effect on farmers and their products in terms of cost,” he said in reply to a query after a meeting with a delegation led by Strien P.J.T. van, Member of Parliament and Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands held at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
Bangladesh’s farmers will buy fertilizer even selling their wife’s jewelry or cows, but they don’t take any risk in fertilizing their land to produce agricultural products, the Agricultural Minister said adding that maybe their production won’t go down.
“Though the farmers will suffer personally to some extent, but the government has no option for this (increase in electricity prices),” Razzaque said.
When asked whether the government is taking a risk by increasing the price of electricity, the minister replied, “That’s right. The farmer’s production will not be declined but their income will decrease to some extent likely and it is my personal interpretation.”
Would the price of electricity been increased frequently if not taken loan from the IMF, Md Abdur Razzaque said , “The IMF has also asked to increase the price of fertilizer. Even, the IMF and WB do not accept the subsidy that given to fertiliser. They always created obstruction on subsidy and many have paid a high price for listening to the IMF-World Bank suggestions.”
He also said that there was a lot of pressure on the Prime Minister prior getting the IMF loan.