Maize growers in trouble

Farmers urge govt to buy the grain

Sohel Parvez

Maize growers fear losses due to falling prices of the grain as demand for poultry feed slumps after bird flu wiped out 25,000 farms in the last one year, farmers and traders said.

Prices of maize fell to Tk 11-13 a kg at farmers' level in May from almost Tk 20 in the same month a year ago, according to growers in maize producing districts.

"Traders are losing interest in maize. If some traders want to buy at all, they want to buy on credit, not cash," said Abul Hossain Molla, a maize grower at Damuda of Chuadanga, a major maize growing district.

Prices of maize, mostly used in poultry feed mills, may fall further as growers and traders expect higher production due to more acreage for maize farming.

Maize farming rose 24 percent to 6.99 lakh acres in the current fiscal year from 5.60 lakh acres from fiscal 2010-11, according to initial data from the Department of Agricultural Extension.

The DAE is yet to finalise its production estimate. But traders and crop extension officials expect that output will exceed 10.18 lakh tonnes, an estimate by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

"The current prices are lower than my production costs, which has increased in the last one year because of increased prices of fuel, fertiliser and labour cost," said Azizul Haque, a grower in Chuadanga.

Haque produced a kilogram of maize spending Tk 14 this year. "The government should withdraw restrictions on exports to cushion farmers against losses," he said.

Sudhir Chandra Nath, head of the agro and food security programme of BRAC, said middlemen and millers are using higher production and lower demand for maize in poultry feed mills as an opportunity to drive down prices.

"A section of millers and middlemen want to take advantage of the situation," the official, who sells maize seeds, said.

“Farmers are more interested to sell off maize fearing erosion of quality as they do not have any capacity to store.”

Md Moqbul Hossain, a maize grower in Bogra, said sold his stock at Tk 15 a kg last month and avoided losses.

He demanded the government buy maize to protect farmers against any loss.

AKM Azad, president of Maize Association of Bangladesh, a grouping of traders, said maize production this year would exceed annual demand for 12 lakh tonnes.

"The government should immediately lift all restrictions on maize exports," he said, expecting maize output will cross 15 lakh tonnes this year.

In August 2008, the caretaker government restricted maize exports by fixing a minimum export price of $600 a tonne.