A market best known for offering farm labour services

As the harvesting season begins, Munshiganj, which is known for producing the highest amount of quality potatoes in the country, turns to its century-old practice of offering farm labour services to equip farmers with additional farmhands for a timely harvest.

Day labourers from different northern districts gather at Baligaon Bazar of Tongibari upazila in Munshiganj to sell their labour every day from 5:30am to 7am.

They usually come from Rangpur, Dinajpur, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Bhola, and Bogura.

Although the rates and work shifts are somewhat fixed, there is still room for both parties to negotiate their terms.

Generally, for getting a male day labourer, the employer has to spend between Tk 400 and Tk 500, and it is between Tk 250 and Tk 300 for a female one.

The employers hire 15 to 20 day labourers for each day of work, and their shifts usually extend from morning to afternoon, from around 7am to 3pm every day, said Ripon Hossain Bepari, member of Baligaon union parishad.

During a recent visit to Baligaon Bazar, hundreds of people were seen gathering from early in the morning. After the negotiation is done, a group of 15 to 20 day labourers leave the market with their employers for the fields. The employers then bear all of their expenses and take care of their daily needs that exclude the amount they are paid for their labour.

“The peak time to harvest potatoes is Ogrohaeon (November). As the volume of potatoes produced in Munshiganj is massive, the number of local farmhands is deemed inadequate, and that is why the demand for rentable farmhands is high in this region,” said Romel Sikdar, a farmer.

However, day labourers who come to the market from adjacent districts for work are being paid less than their local counterparts, labourers from Rangpur and Lalmonirhat alleged.

Furthermore, female farmhands are also being paid less despite executing the same tasks as their male counterparts, spurring dissatisfaction among the women present at the market over the prevailing gender discrimination in the locality.

“We work as much as the locals. Also, we have to bear the transportation cost as we come from distant areas. However, the farmers in the region take advantage of our desperation and pay us less, which is unfair,” said Shakil Hossain, a day labourer who came from Gaibandha.

Sharmila, Momotaz, Pakhi Begum, and Aklima Begum, who came to the market for work, told The Business Post they are being paid Tk 200 to Tk 300 less than their male counterparts for a day of the same labour.

“We work as hard as the male farmhands, but we are being paid much less than them. It is deeply frustrating,” said Sharmila, who came from Rangpur to find work.

“We come from distant areas, leaving our children at home. We stand in line for hours before finding any work as the employers consider us less efficient than male farmhands, which is a misconception.

As underprivileged as we are, we have to comply with the norms here, but we are deeply dissatisfied,” Asia Akhter, a farmhand from Nilphamari said.