Dear Editor,
Rice farmers in Region Two who cultivated their crops late took heavy blows with the infestation of paddy bugs at harvesting time. Some of them had to burn their crops down because they cannot recover the total cost of their inputs. The paddy bug sucks ¾ of the ilky grains out leaving only the chaff on the plants or wind paddy. Millers were paying some farmers $300 for a bag of paddy at the late stage of harvesting, reaping a bag of paddy with a combine costs $300 so it make no sense for the farmers to reap the infested ripe rice in the fields at a loss. Some of them gave the combine owners their entire crops free.
To transport a bag of paddy to the mills costs $200. Depending on the distance, those farmers who harvested their crops here in Region Two at the early stage, who had minimal paddy bug infestation were paid $ 2,300 for a bag of paddy. The millers were paying these farmers 25% of the total sum for their paddy and they had to wait three months for another 25% of their payment. This means that these farmers will break-even with their cultivation costs for the last crop.
They will now have to borrow money from the banks to cultivate the upcoming crop and take credit from their input suppliers to buy fertilizers, pay for the preparation of their lands, buy drugs and pay their workmen to shy their paddy and spray the fields. At the moment those farmers who have cultivated the new crop, wild ducks are destroying their young paddy germination in the fields. These farmers have to spend day and night in the backdam to scare away the wild ducks from eating out their paddy. This is another blow for the rice farmers.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
