'We cannot even afford to buy pangas fish now'

Forty-six-year-old farmer Makbul Hossain was sitting beside his farmland. He is a farmer by profession. But this time, there is a mark of worry on that very farmland. He cannot cultivate maize due to a fertiliser crisis. So he has still left the land empty.

Makbul Hossain was spoken to at Harinathpur village in Kazipur upazila of Sirajganj around noon on Friday, September 25.

He said he has cultivated paddy on two bighas of land this time. One and a half bighas of land is still empty. He had planned to cultivate maize on this land. However, due to the fertiliser crisis, he has not yet been able to start maize cultivation on that land.

It is not just the fertiliser crisis; costs are rising in every sector of agriculture.

Makbul Hossain said irrigation costs will also increase due to the rise in diesel prices. Earlier, it cost Tk 3,000 to irrigate one bigha of land. He is worried about how much the cost will now stand at.

The pressure of this additional cost on farmers has reached from the field to the farmer's home. They are having to cut down their food list to meet the daily needs of the family. For many farmers, even pangas fish has now become an extra expense.

Abul Kalam Azad, a 50-year-old farmer of Harinathpur village, said, "It has become difficult for us to survive by eating. We farmers cannot even afford to buy pangas fish now."

Abul Kalam Azad further said that even using two fans and one bulb at his home, the electricity bill comes to Tk 1,200 to Tk 1,300 per month. Along with the additional cost in agriculture, they have become bewildered by electricity, fuel and other household expenses.

Golam Rabbany, a 35-year-old farmer of the same village, said that alongside farming, he also does paddy threshing work. He charges Tk 450 for threshing one bigha of paddy. But the cost of this work is also increasing due to the rise in diesel prices. Farmers cannot even afford to pay Tk 450 as it is. Now, with the increase in diesel prices, the cost of paddy threshing will also have to be increased. But many farmers do not have the ability to pay that extra money either.

Mahidul Islam, Golam Rabbany, Abul Kalam Azad, Makbul Hossain and at least 20 farmers of Harinathpur village in Sirajganj said the country's farmers are not well off in the current situation. Nothing is being done by the government to keep farmers well off. On the contrary, the cost of production in agriculture is increasing day by day. But farmers' income is decreasing.