Now is the peak harvest season in the country. The good news is that most paddy growing areas are expecting a bumper crop. This is despite the fact that crops in fields in a few areas have been afflicted by rice blast disease which leaves no seed in the chaff of sheaves. Farmers in a handful of cases have also suffered the ill effect of smoke from brick kiln built adjacent to their paddy plots.
The bad news is that harvest is encountering big challenges on account of hostile and inclement weather. Rain accompanied with lightning is almost a regular feature now. In some areas in the country's north and north-east flush floods have send crops under water. In other areas accumulation of rainwater has also submerged paddy fields. Dearth of harvesting labour has now become a cause for serious concern. Additionally, lightning poses a grave threat to lives of farmers busy harvesting in open field. No wonder, of the high casualties from lightning, the majority are farmers.
Shortage of harvesting hands during this time is nothing new. A shift in cultivation from the traditional Aus and Aman to high-yielding Boro has also brought about an unprecedented transformation of farming and a change in the harvest time. From monsoon and winter, it has shifted to high summer. Before introduction of Boro, there was also shortage of paddy reapers, particularly when floods invaded the plains. In the winter, though, there was no such problem and reaping hands came from far and wide in droves for harvest. They were not paid wages in cash but in corn.
The same system worked during the early years, because the cultivation of Boro was not then widespread. Now that cultivation of this high-yielding variety has reached all corners of the land, labourers are currently short in supply. In such a situation, entire families of farmers, not all members of which were ever required to give their hands to such tasks, are compelled to labour in an effort to save as much crops as possible from hostile weather.
Farmers are facing hostilities in multiple forms -and that too from both Nature and man. Even if they can harvest paddy, there is no facility for thrashing and drying the enormous heaps. Tonnes of rice require courtyard or pavement specially prepared for the purpose. But if the sunshine is not there, paddy cannot be dried. If it is not dried before storing, it becomes rotten.
Clearly, a favourable weather prevailed this year for high yield of paddy but when the time arrived for harvesting the weather started conspiring against farmers. In the haor areas, where harvest begins a little earlier, farmer enjoyed good weather. But taking advantage of poor transportation system rice traders and middlemen formed a syndicate to deprive farmers of fair price of the staple. Last year, they suffered on account of floods and this year they were at the receiving end on account of the intrigues played on them by greedy rice traders.
Here the demand-supply theory is manipulated in order to maximise profit by a section of greedy and dishonest people. If the government launches paddy procurement drive well in time, farmers are not required to incur the unnecessary losses. Allegedly, a maund (about 38 kilograms) of paddy was selling in the haor area at Tk 650-750 whereas the going rate at that time was Tk 1,000.
If the haor areas did not face difficulty in harvesting this year, the rest of the country has been finding it increasingly impossible to complete harvesting. In a situation like this, there is no alternative to going for mechanical help. A report published several months ago focused on a reaper cum thrasher cum mower which can work as much in an hour as hundreds of labourers can put up in a day. Introduction of the machine, where possible under cooperative ownership, can solve the problem. Let the ministry concerned import or assemble the machine at home to make those available to farmers for helping harvest.