Abdul Matin, a farmer of Johalmatai village of chamrul in Dupchanchia upazila of Bogra district had cultivated Aman paddy in his own five bighas of land. He bears his day-to-day expenses by selling in the market the rice made of his paddy. But he was utterly dejected when he saw that the market was flooded with Indian rice. He said, “Where will we go? Crops are lost in disaster or price is law atmarket. Now, Indian rice has entered the market. It seems then, we shall not be able to cultivate the land.” Another farmer Mojibar Fakir of Taluch village said, “Our smile has disappeared. I shall have to starve with wife and children if rice cannot be sold. It seems, we have been deceived by cultivating paddy.” Panchshira Bazar of Kalai upazila under Joypurhat district is famous for rice. Abdul Aziz, proprietor of M/S Three F Food Processing Mill and Akand Rice Mill stated their miseries. He said, how can we be good when duty-free Indian rice is entering the country under L/C through Hili land port. Chatal trader of Panchshira Bazar Abdul Latif said, we are affected by the dual attitude of the government. Order has been issued to supply in jute sacks the rice to be purchased from us for food godowns according to the agreement. Whereas, the rice coming from India is being taken in plastic bags. Why is such attitude with us, he asked. It is learnt that the rice mills at Dinajpur, the largest centre of rice are going to be closed. The activities of workers-porters at pullhaat known as Millpara have declined. The Indian rice is selling in the market at a price lower than two/three per kg of local rice. The same situation prevails in Nawgaon where the running mills are in a serious crisis. Hundreds of tons of rice are lying in godowns, the price of which is falling day by day. About 80 percent mills of the district have been closed. About 35 thousand chatal workers have been rendered jobless. 600 mills owners have become loan defaulters. About a week ago, in a meeting with the traders of Bogra, Naogaon and Joypurhat, Food Minister Kamrul Islam assured of stopping the import of duty-free rice. But no effective step to that end has yet been taken. He further said the then BNP-Jamaat government resorted to duty free import of rice due to food shortage in the country. But the country has become self sufficient in food sector during incumbent Awami League regime. “We do not know as to why rice is being imported now,” he said. In case the businessmen import paddy grains and make rice balls from those, they are to invest crores of taka, open LC and count interest of bank loan. But after opening a LC, they have been importing thousand tons rice balls at low cost from India. As a result, the local rice producers are being looser. The businessmen and rice mill owners made the above allegation. The farmers of northeastern haor areas are hard hit by the prevailing situation. It costs nearly Tk 800 to produce one maund of rice grain. Only 24/24 kg rice ball is produced from there. The government is procuring rice ball at Tk 32 per kg. In this calculation, price of one maund rice ball is Tk 700. As the government is importing rice fragments from India, the price of local rice ball has fallen. The local farmers are put on the brink of destruction. “What is benefit of cultivation?” regretted Md Bazlu Mia, a farmer of Boalia village at Kotiadi in Kishoreganj. The government officials concerned claimed bumper production of Aman paddy in northern region. The smile of farmers faded away due to import of rice. In return, the country’s money is going to India. A section of businessmen of India are sending money to their Bangladeshi partners through hundi. Such businessmen in Bangladesh are opening LC with the money. The Indian businessmen are exporting rice ball in advance so that price of rice does not hike in Bangladesh. In this way, the Indian businessmen are regulating rice market in Bangladesh from the remote. Customs officials at the Hilly land port said that 90,000 metric ton rice was imported in last four months through the port alone. Of the consignments, the import volume of November was higher. Per metric ton rice was imported at Tk 250 –450 subject to variety and quality. The situation of Sona Masjid land port in Chapainawabganj is identical. The quantity of rice imported in last two months created a record. Around 800 metric ton rice was imported every day through 20 importers. Although 15-16 persons were involved in importing rice, the number of importers has become double by now. Most of them are the importers of Rajshahi, Baneswar and Dhaka. Wishing anonymity, an importer said the businessmen are bent on importing rice for not having any risk of loss in the sector. They can get the payments timely. The market does not collapse. There are 2,000 rice mills in Dinajpur. Out of 1,600 husking mills, around 1,000 are closed now. Owners of nearly 185 rice mills lost their capital. Ownerships of 60 mills have been handed over to other persons. Rest of the mills cannot be sold. Nobody is interested to buy such mills. Majority of the entrepreneurs are trying to start another business. Sahidur Rahman Patwary, a leader of Dinajpur rice mill group, said the local businessmen have become pauper due to import of rice from India. They have to pay bank interest at high rate, VAT and income tax. On the other hand, the businessmen who are importing rice from India do not need to pay VAT and income tax. Harunur Rashid, a leader of raw material importers group at Hilly land port, “Due to bumper production, the local markets are flooded with local rice. Due to low price of Indian rice, 2,000 metric tons of rice was imported a day in the last week. At present the wholesale price of Indian rice ranges between Tk 24 and 32. Saifur Raj Chowdhury, leader of Chaal Kol Sramik Association said that more than one lakh workers have been working in about two thousands rice mills in the country. They can work only six months around the year. Those workers used to work on ‘Yard Agreement’ basis. But when the mills remained closed their family members passed their days in inhuman condition. With the beginning of the new season, coarse variety of paddy was sold at Tk 760 to 770 per maund and fine quality of paddy was sold at Tk 770 to Tk 790 per maund in Jaipurhat. But the price of local paddy fell when Indian duty-free rice entered the local markets through L/C. Due to this reason local mill owners fell in bad situation. Due to loss about 80 percent mill owners including five auto rice mills shut down their business establishments. Mostafizur Rahman Dulu, owner of Maa Rezia Auto Rice Mill at Karimpur said, there is no need to import rice from abroad because supply of local rice in the market is enough. But the government is giving opportunity to import duty-free rice from abroad. If the present trend continues we will be bankrupt. Goutam Kumar Chakraborty, a rice trader of Kalai upazila said that he shut down his rice mill due to continuous loss. KM Layek Ali, General Secretray of Bangladesh Auto Major and Husking Owners Association told this correspondent, “Sub-standard rice has been imported from India through Hili border is being supplied to the local market in the name of Nurjahan brand rice. Most of the Indian rice is being imported through plastic bag but the government directed us to supply local rice in jute sacks. Though we protested it, we did not get any result. Nirod Baran Saha Chandan, president of Paddy and Aratdar Trader Samity said that every day about 130 to 150 trucks of rice went to different district from Naogaon in the season while at present only 20 to 25 rice loaded trucks went to different destinations. Facing loss many mill owners close their rice mills. Farhad Hossain Chakdar, general secretary of Noagaon District Chaalkal Malik Group said, rice traders are about to be looser due to high bank loan interest and duty-free import of rice from abroad. Meanwhile about 600 rice mills owners have become loan defaulters and many workers became unemployed. Md Jashimuddin Bhuiyan, a farmer of Kotiadi Upazila of Kishoreganj district said, sub-standard animal food has been imported from India. The people are being affected by eating stone-mixed rice. Broken rice which is imported from India as animal food has been controlling 80 percent local market. Most of the lower-income people of the country’s north-east region of Kishoreganj district are purchasing the stone-mixed rice as an alternative. For this reason local rice traders are facing an awful situation. Owners of rice mills shut down their rice mils which escalating unemployment problem. It is learnt from an investigation, about two thousand rice mills of Kishoreganj, Netrokona, Brahmanbaria and Habiganj districts remained closed. Rice traders said they are counting high bank interest as the businesses remained suspended. During a visit at different rice markets of Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria, Bhairab in Kishoreganj and Bajitpur, it was learnt that a trader who used to sale two thousand bags of local variety of rice in a week still he sales same volume of rice. Broken rice which is imported from India are being sold at bulk in the local markets instead of domestic rice. Ziaul Karim Khan Sazu, president of Brahmanbaria District Chatal (rice drying yards) Business Association said most of the businessmen have shut down their businesses due to import of low standard rice and rice fragments from India. Paddy is not being bought from the local farmers. The amount of loan (CC) of district chatal businessmen is more than Tk300 crore. Many of them are being bankrupt. Already many banks have started filing certificate cases. There is no alternative to stopping rice import from India. Visiting markets it has been seen that different brands of Indian rice fragments mixed with stones and polished with candles are being sold in the open markets. Rice fragments of various brands such as Nurjahan, Momtaz, Sathi-Bithi are being sold in the haat and bazaars of this region. Zakir Hossain, general secretary of Ashuganj Chatal Business Samity said about 450 chatals have incurred losses due to import of low standard rice from India. Around 80 per cent chatals have closed and chatal traders have shut their businesses. If this import is not stopped then the local rice trading will be hampered seriously. Amitava Das deputy director of Kishoreganj District Agricultural Extension Department said the target of current Aman cultivation in the district was 73 thousand 36 hector while achieved 73 thousand 860 hector. The target of rice production was 89 thousand metric tonnes. And it is being assumed that more than 2 lakh metric tonnes will be produced. The rice market is now occupied by Indian rice or rice fragments. In reply to question as to what is the profit of producing such amount of paddy if farmers are deprived of getting fair prices, he said it is a national policy. Besides, market analysts can say it well.
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