FARIDPUR, Mar 15: Over the past seven years, the acreage of Boro paddy has reduced to twenty thousand hectares of land in the district due to low market price of the produce and high cost of production.
During the Boro season, farmers are now leaning towards cultivating mustard, lentil, onion and wheat.
According to Faridpur DAE, the target of Boro cultivation in the district was 39,417 hectares of land in 2011-2012. But this season (2019-2020), the target of Boro paddy cultivation has been estimated at 24,000 hectares.
Sources said Boro cultivation has decreased in the last seven years to 15,000 hectares of land.
In comparison to the target, instead of Boro rice, onion has been cultivated on 9,000 hectares, mustard on 3,000 hectares, lentil on 4,000 hectares and wheat on 5,000 hectares, said Kartik Chandra Chakrabarti, deputy director of Faridpur DAE.
Talking to some farmers in different upazilas of Faridpur, it has been learnt that they did not get the proper price of paddy last season. The production of paddy per maund has cost them Tk 800. There is a sale price of Tk 500 to Tk 550 per maund.
Because of this, they are cultivating alternative crops.
Abdul Razzaq, a rice dealer in the Boalmali area, said the farmers of the country are not getting the fair price of paddy as rice is coming through letter of credit (LC). In addition, when the government buys rice or paddy, in most of the cases farmers are not able to supply it directly. If this situation continues, farmers will continue to turn away from Boro production.
The DAE official said farmers are being advised for crop diversification. As a result, the cultivation of alternative crops like wheat, onion and mustard is increasing.
