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GFMM desk: While other business conditions are bad during the general holiday across the country to prevent coronavirus, sales of rice harvester combined harvesters are on the rise. According to one of the top two companies in the country's agricultural sector, they sold 40 combined harvesters last year, but this year it could exceed 1,000. On the other hand, another leading company said that the demand is huge. Harvesters in their stock are on the verge of selling out.
According to the concerned people, 5 percent of the total land will be harvested by the combined harvester this time in the boro season, which was only one percent so far. This time there was a huge shortage of workers to cut paddy in the general holiday haor to prevent the spread of coronavirus. With combined harvesters and other agricultural implements, it is possible to harvest paddy quickly before the water reaches the haor.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, about 62 per cent of the boro paddy in the haor has been harvested by Tuesday (April 28, 2020).
Farmers and machine marketers are talking about three benefits of harvesting paddy in a combined harvester. First, rice can be harvested quickly with a harvester. Lack of workers does not create any problem. Second, the cost of the harvester is about half that of harvesting rice in the usual way. Third, crop losses are reduced by less than half when harvested.
The biggest advantage is that the government subsidizes half of the total price of agricultural entrepreneurs or farmers associations who buy harvesters. In Haor it is 70 percent. This means that if the government buys a combined harvester of a Japanese brand for Tk. 28 lakh, it pays Tk. 14 lakh. Haor farmers get a subsidy of Tk. 19 lakh 60 thousand and if you buy a harvester of a Chinese brand for Tk. 20 lakh, the farmer gets a subsidy of Tk. 10 lakh.
In this regard, Additional Secretary (Extension) of the Ministry of Agriculture Hasanuzzaman Kallol said, the government is giving a subsidy of Tk. 200 crore for mechanization of agriculture. In the first phase, Tk. 100 crore has gone to the farmer level. The remaining Tk. 100 crore has also been released. He said, 'Some new harvesters have been given in Haor. Some of the previous harvesters and other agricultural implements are being repaired and used so that the paddy can be cut quickly.
Source: Online/SZK
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