The rice economy (Daily Star)

Daily Star (Bangladesh) published an article stating that rice contributes to 48 percent of the total rural employment.  Two-thirds of the total caloric need of the country and is the source of half of the country’s protein intake. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, crops and horticulture’s share is about 10 percent of the gross domestic product, with half coming from rice. The issue is the price, which farmers get by selling paddy or rice, and consumers pay to buy rice for consumption. Year after year, the point of discussion remains the same: consumers pay more, but the farmers who produce them at the cost of their backbreaking labor are often underpaid. According to a study by IFPRI, 83 percent of farmers belong to the group of marginal and small category which have land less than 1.5 acres.