Dhaka — The marginal farmers at the district level in Bangladesh are benefiting more than ever by selling paddy at a fair price using the digital farmer app. In this year's pilot project in the Chandpur district, 3,000 farmers have registered using the Digital Farmer app.
Now they are selling the golden paddy of their own land to the government without any middleman. And the farmers of the district are happy with this. In the farmer's app, 939 metric tons of paddy has been collected from four upazilas and a total of 1766 metric tons of paddy has been collected in the entire district.
Under the government's pilot project, registration of those interested in selling paddy through Krishak app started in four upazilas from April 2021 in Chandpur Sadar Upazila, Kachua, Faridganj and Shahrashti.
Until the last day of registration, May 10, 3,000 farmers registered in the app. Regarding the sale of paddy to the government, farmer Abdul Khaleq of Dhanua village of Gobindpur union No. 9 of Faridganj upazila said he has sold 2.60 metric tonnes of paddy.
No one had to pay any kind of brokerage or bribe here. I am grateful to the government for getting a fair price.
Parveen Begum (48), a farmer from Gobindpur village No. 10, brought 3 metric tons of paddy in a trolley truck to the upazila food warehouse. Upazila Food Officer Golam Mostafa measured the humidity and took his paddy.
She said: “I also sold paddy last year so this time I have already registered in the farmer app in collaboration with the agriculture officer.”
This year our yield has been good, so this year we also sold paddy, now Kaur's recommendation is no more, she added.
On this day 50/60 farmers brought paddy to sell in the warehouse, there is also talk of Nasrin Sultana Lipi of Upazila Sadar, Monir Hossain and Maju Gazi of Gobindpur all sell paddy in the warehouse at 2 metric tons.
They said, we have registered in the government app and now we are talking directly and selling paddy, we are benefiting from it. That is why we are grateful to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Talking to Golam Mostafa, an officer of the Upazila Food Warehouse, he said, “Through the Upazila Agriculture Department, we have been miking, distributing leaflets, hanging signboards, and posting news on paper to make the farmers aware.”
Then through the Agriculture Department through the office of the Upazila Nirbahi Officer the registrants have been lottery and serialized.
Now the paddy is being stored in sacks with the correct weight by measuring the moisture content from the farmers whose names are on that list. After that, the rice will be made with millers and stored again.
In my upazila 1885 farmers have registered in the app, 1866 people have been asked to register from the agriculture department, 744 farmers have been selected in the lottery of the app out of which 174 people have allotted 496.560 metric tons of paddy in their name. Our target for paddy procurement is 1313 metric tons.
On the same day at noon, the Sadar Upazila food warehouse of the district was visited and it was seen that the farmers registered there and in the app were selling paddy directly in the warehouse.
Abdur Rahman Bepari, a farmer of Chandra Union in Sadar Upazila, said that all the farmers in their area have bumper yields of boro paddy this year.
On the advice of the Agriculture Office, the farmer has digitally registered in the app. Now he is selling 3 May: tons of paddy at Tk 27 per kg for Tk 81,000. I will get the check tomorrow.
Qadir Ghazi, 62, a farmer from Balia Union in the upazila, said he is a sharecropper, cultivating Boro paddy on 6 acres of land. Now he must sell the paddy to repay the loan.
However, on the advice of the Department of Agriculture, the farmer has registered in the app and now he has brought the paddy to the warehouse. He is very happy to get a fair price because now the market price is a little lower. So I am making a profit by selling it to the government for Tk 1080. I sold two and a half tons of paddy.
On the same day, Manufa Begum of Baliar, Matin Mizi of Laxmipur and Murad Mia of Tarapchandi are selling paddy in the warehouse.
There are 400 farmers in Sadar, 239 farmers in Kachuza, 470 farmers in Shahrashti and 1,883 farmers in Faridganj. So far 180 metrics from four upazilas through the Krishak app. Tons of paddy have been collected.
According to the Chandpur District Agriculture Extension Department, the district currently has 1,647 large farmers, 23,284 medium farmers, 98,666 small farmers, 1,48,187 marginal farmers and 1,08,287 landless farmers.
Miking, leaflet distribution and banners have been set up at important places to raise public awareness for registration in the Krishak app and paddy will be procured till August 16, said Chandpur District Food Officer Nityananda Kundu. He further said that 8,086 metric tonnes of paddy will be procured in the district this year, we have already procured 35% paddy, which will increase to 50-60% by next May 30.
Like other years, this year too a farmer is able to sell a maximum of 3 tons of paddy. So far 939.60 metric tons of paddy has been purchased through the app in Chandpur.
Of these, 161 metric tons of paddy is in Sadar warehouse, 195 metric tons in Shaharahi warehouse, 496.560 metric tons in Faridganj warehouse and 87 metric tons in Kachua upazila.
Apart from this, 309 metric tonnes of paddy has been procured in Hajiganj godown, 313 metric tonnes in Matlab North godown, 173 metric tonnes in Matlab Dakshin Upazila godown and 33 metric tonnes in Nayergaon food godown. A total of 1766 metric tonnes of paddy has been procured in the district.
He said: “that mainly the farmers who are advanced in technology have been able to register. Chandpur farmers are benefiting by selling paddy at a fair price using digital farmer app.”
