Secretary General of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Dr. Shafiqur Rahman has issued the following statement on 16 May 2019 expressing deep concerns over the current rural socio-economic situation as the farmers are setting fire at their crops as they do not get due price of paddy this time.

“The entire nation is deeply worried over the ongoing situation of the country. This year so far experienced massive production of paddy. But the farmers are highly anxious as they cannot sell their crops. There is huge scarcity of customers in the market. The government is also yet to begin procuring crops. As a result, the farmers are suffering from huge financial losses. Labor costs and other relevant costs including the costs of irrigation and fertilizers are increasing alarmingly. Price of rice has increased in the urban market but still the farmers are not receiving good price for their produced crops.

These visible discrepancies between the prices of rice and paddy have been created by some vested groups. The rice mill owners and hoarders have created the crises just because of their own interest. Due to their massive profit seeking tendencies, the farmers are not getting proper prices. Whereas, the consumers are not getting food at reasonable prices as well. The government must consider all these issues very sincerely.

The farmers are being deprived from getting due prices of their crops because of the poor management of the government. But they authority is paying no heed to these issues. Most of the countries around the world, fix food prices considering the interest of the farmers and the consumers. But those practices are not exercised in our country. If there is a democratic government, such dire situation could be avoided. However, it is the obligation of the government to take initiatives for ensuring right price of paddy even by providing subsidy.

If the farmers start reacting to such man-made crises and stop producing paddies, severe food deficiency would be created in the country. Agriculture and the farmers are the backbone of Bangladesh’s economy. So, national economy would be collapsed if the interests of these sections are ignored.

In this backdrop, I am urging the concerned authorities of the government to protect the economy and also to fix price of all produced crops considering the farmer’s interest.