Labourer crisis in Munshiganj crunches paddy harvest

Munshiganj farmers are apprehending to incur a loss instead of making a profit as a crisis of day labourers leaves them unable to harvest their ripe paddy.

Due to the labourer crisis, farmers in the district are facing a tough time as they fail to find enough workers even at the rate of Tk 1,300-1,400 per day.

According to locals, paddy production this year is less than in previous years. So far, only 45 per cent of paddy has been harvested in the district.

Farmers of Arial Beel in Srinagar have started harvesting ripe paddy on the waterlogged land. The farmers are worried about not being able to harvest all of their produces before they rot due to water lodging.

All the paddy harvests in Arial Beel will be completed within the next 15 days, said the farmers of the area.

Different varieties of paddy have been cultivated on more than 9,000 hectares of land in Srinagar and 5,000 hectares of this land is in the Srinagar part of the famous Arial Beel.

The farmers of the area were unable to find enough labourers even after offering Tk 1,300-1,400 and three meals a day. The wet paddy is being sold at Tk 700-800 per maund after the threshing process.

Traders have been seen buying these paddies in the Alampur, Sridharpur, Baraikhali, Madankhali, Gadighat, and Sholaghar areas of the upazila. Mostly the hybrid BRRI 28 and BRRI 29 varieties of paddy have been cultivated in this region.

Farmers in Gajaria of the district have recently started harvesting and threshing paddy. Many farmers of this area are also facing trouble harvesting due to a lack of day labourers.

The current hostile weather has left the crops lodging in most of the fields. Farmers are worried about the crops rotting due to water accumulation.

According to the farmers, the paddy is ripe, but due to the labour crisis, they have not been able to harvest it.

Especially farmers of the Nayakandi, Bhitikandi area in the Bhaberchar union, and Bhaterchar area of the Tengarchar union are most affected by the crisis of labourers.

Thousands of acres of land full of ripe paddy are waiting to be harvested in many areas of the upazila.

Many farmers of the region were busy cultivating the harvest with the help of their families.

Mohsin Munshi, a farmer from Nayakandi village in Bhaberchar union, said he cultivated paddy on approximately 36 acres of land this season.

“I have not been able to harvest even one acre properly due to lack of labourers,” he said.

Usually, workers from surrounding districts come during the harvest season. Even during the pandemic, there was no crisis of labourers. The local workers have their hands full trying to fulfil their contracts with some of the farmers. “Those of us who couldn’t get any workers are now worried about facing severe losses,” said Munshi.

According to the local farmers, last year it cost Tk 2,500-3,000 to contract a worker to harvest the paddy on 120 decimal of land. But this year, the farmers have to spend Tk 4,000-5,000 for the same amount of land.

In Sirajdikhan of the district, paddy of different varieties has been cultivated on 800 hectares of land. Among them, hybrid SL8H, hybrid Doel, hybrid S1203, and different varieties of BRRI paddy, and Bina-14 are the most common.

Srinagar Upazila Agriculture Officer Shantana Rani said the BRRI-29 variety of paddy has been cultivated in about 5,000 hectares of land in the Srinagar part of Arial Beel.

“We have been assisting the farmers by providing them with pesticides and also any suggestions they might need,” the official said.

Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Extension Md Khurshid Alam said a total of 24,255 hectares of land in Munshiganj has been brought under paddy cultivation.

“The production is low this year compared to the past one. The labourer crisis is also causing trouble for the farmers, but we are trying to help them as much as possible,” he said.

According to him, the rising prices of various daily necessities have increased the wages of the workers.