The Daily Star (Bangladesh) published an article stating that farmers are dealing with one crisis after another: floods, low rainfall, and then fertilizer price hikes. And now, they will have to bear the brunt of a sudden 42.5 percent rise in diesel cost, which is likely to make them spend an additional Tk 4,000 in irrigation for per hectare Boro production. According to IFPRI, the average cost of Boro production on every hectare was Tk 64,862, excluding that for family labor and land rent. Of the total cost, Tk 14,075 or 21.7 percent goes to irrigation, according to the study, titled Boro rice procurement in Bangladesh: implications for policy. Diesel alone accounts for around 70 percent of the total irrigation cost -- which is Tk 9,852, said its co-author Akhter Ahmed, senior research fellow and country representative. "We got the data from a household survey. And we found around 92 percent Boro crop is irrigation-fed, except for that in some low-lying haor areas," Akhter Ahmed told The Daily Star.
