Saiful Islam has lately been busy preparing his five bighas of land to grow paddy. But he reckons he will have to spend Tk 25,000 more than he did last season for the cultivation as the cost of just about everything has gone up.

Bangladesh may bag lower rice output this season, which begins with Boro paddy in winter, as heavy rainfall and flash floods in June have damaged the Aush crops to be harvested next month, according to a recent forecast by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The prices of rice rose by Tk 8-10 per kg over the last two weeks even though it is the harvesting season and there is ample supply of paddy.

The government has decided to purchases additional 2.5 lakh metric tonnes of Boro paddy at Tk 26 per kilogramme in this current season.

Moyen Uddin was overjoyed after being able to sell his Boro paddy at a government procurement installation at a fair price, thanks to the proac-tive initiative from the Kushtia district commissioner.

Standing Boro paddies on at least 16 acres of land were completely damaged due to the emission of excessive heat and hot air from a nearby brick kiln in Mirzapur upazila.

Boro paddy on at least one thousand acres of lands in different areas of Tangail's Ghatail upazila has submerged under rainwater amid waterlogging caused due to filling up of a tributary locally called Goradaha Khal.

When it comes to Boro paddy, Sunamganj usually offers a lion's share of the nationwide harvest. But for the last two years the district has suffered from flash floods, with the 2017 crop in Sunamganj and other haor wetland areas of the northeast all but wiped out.

Bumper boro rice production should make farmers happy. But farmers in Lalmonirhat are unable to smile because they are compelled to sell their paddy at a price much lower than the production cost.

Farmers in most parts of the country have started harvesting Boro paddy with high hopes of getting a better price this season.