Regoverningmarkets.org (Vol. 24, No. 39 September 08 – September 14, 2007)

Farmer suicides tickle 'aam aadmi' govt Tuesday, September 11,2007 Asian Age

NAGPUR: It was an oft-repeated comment - that people, indeed, farmers, from Vidarbha are lazy - but Union minister for textile Shankar Sinh Vaghela and Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh could not have made it at a worse time or place.

For one, it came at a time when the agrarian crisis in Vidarbha is seen as being at its worst, with the number of suicides by debt-ridden farmers in the region at a record high. Secondly, it came at Akola on Sunday at the concluding function of a conference on cotton where farmers were present in large numbers. Besides, Akola is in the cotton belt and among the districts worst affected by farmers' suicides.

Mr Vaghela was pretty blunt about it. He said that farmers in Gujarat, the state where he comes from, also had problems, but nevertheless, they toiled hard in the field.

"By contrast, the farmers in Vidarbha just laze around," he said.Mr Deshmukh, of course, was more circumspect. He said that farmers added "water and stones" to the consignments of cotton, which they brought for sale to the government, to increase its weight. The chief minister obviously wanted to convey the impression that the farmers indulged in nothing short of cheating to earn a penny that was not rightfully theirs, rather than put in a day's hard work and try to obtain the maximum possible yield from their fields.

Mr Vaghela and Mr Deshmukh will now, of course, come up with the explanation that their comments were not intended to offend anyone or that these were taken out of context. However, the fact remains that the utterances have ruffled many a feather.

Those who attended Sunday's function went back disappointed. They had come in the hope that some measures would be announced to alleviate the suffering of the farmers in the region, but these were dashed.

New mango, citrus orchards Tuesday, September 11,2007  DAWN

FAISALABAD, Sept 10: Two new orchards of mango and citrus will be developed at botanical garden of University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) campus in which all available varieties of both the horticultural crops will be cultivated for research purpose.

UAF Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Bashir Ahmad stated this while inaugurating the plantation ceremony at botanical garden of the university here on Monday.

A directorate of farms had been established which was functioning to harmonise the research at various farms level, he said.

He asked the scientists to develop need-based technologies in livestock and agriculture fields with major focus on processing mechanism in food and dairy sectors. -APP

Record tea price for Adawatte estate Tuesday, September 11,2007 Daily Mirror

COLOMBO: Adawatte Estate, Lunugala has established an all time record price at the weekly Tea Auctions held on 4th September 2007 by securing an attractive price of Rs. 810/- for a liquoring BOP1 grade. This price has surpassed the previous record price of Rs. 580/- established in the year 2005. This line of tea was purchased by M/s Ceylon Tea Marketing.

This Estate was renowned for high quality pure orthodox teas in the past for its delicate liquoring characteristics, especially during the Uva Quality season and has been maintaining excellent standards.

This has enabled Adawatte to maintain a position amongst the top runners in the Uva with strong and consistent Buyer support witnessed at the weekly Tea Auctions.

Adawatte Estatae is managed by Hapugastanne Plantations PLC. M/s John Keells PLC are the Tea Brokers for the produce of this estate.

Adawatte estate Ceylon is situated in the Uva province in the tail end of the eastern slopes of the central mountains of Sri lanka.

The estate is situated at an elevation of 3000 feet mostly surrounded by virgin forest and it consists with 95 Hec of Vegitativly propagated tea,85 Hec of old seedling tea, 20 Hec of Rubber,300 Hec of forest 100 Hec of lemon grass planted closer to the tea processing centre, which the extended eastern dry wind comes through and gives a specialality to the tea.

Adawatte produces the flevery teas which has a world reputation as a tea with a distinctivel smooth intense taste and wonderfully fragrant aroma.

Adawatte produces the following grades of tea

OP1 - OP - PEKOE - FBOP - BOP special - BOP - BOPF Adawatte team consists of 500 harvesters / factory operators and 50 staff members specially trained to produce the best thought the year.

The team and the dependents are provided with housing facilities, medicle care,baby day care centers, education and computer literacy training.

Adawatte goes for the best green leaf, plucked by trained harvesters in the early hours of the morning, to produces and pack the best within the shortest possible time, to maintain its glory in the tea drinking community.

New mango, citrus orchards Tuesday, September 11,2007 DAWN

FAISALABAD, Sept 10: Two new orchards of mango and citrus will be developed at botanical garden of University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) campus in which all available varieties of both the horticultural crops will be cultivated for research purpose.

UAF Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Bashir Ahmad stated this while inaugurating the plantation ceremony at botanical garden of the university here on Monday.

A directorate of farms had been established which was functioning to harmonise the research at various farms level, he said.

He asked the scientists to develop need-based technologies in livestock and agriculture fields with major focus on processing mechanism in food and dairy sectors. -APP

Food price inflation soars Tuesday, September 11,2007 NEW AGE

DHAKA: Food price inflation rose to 11.42 per cent in July with an urban bias, proving that the city-focussed interventions helped little to ease market price pressures.

Soaring food prices propelled the overall inflation to a 36-year high of 10.10 per cent on a point-to-point basis, according to figures released by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Monday.

Food price inflation crept to 9.82 per cent in June from 6.65 per cent in January, according to figures released by.

Urban food prices gained 12.46 per cent in July, up from 10.71 per cent in June. Prices of food items rose 10.97 per cent in rural areas in July compared with 9.14 per cent in June.

Senior economist Muzaffer Ahmed forecast that the situation would aggravate further in the coming days as due to lower-than-expected agricultural output and global commodity market volatility.

‘The government will face severe problems until the next budget as food situation does not look good with static local production and supply shortage in the international market,' he said.

He suggested that the government should continue direct market intervention measure at least for the next two crop seasons - aman and boro.

Signs of restoration of business confidence remain bleak due to attitude problems of the business sector, he felt.

‘In the past businessmen got some illegal benefits from the politicians, which are not available under the current regime,' he said adding, ‘Businessmen cannot change their way of doing business overnight.'

Net food-grain production in the last fiscal remained almost static at 24.87 million tonnes against 24.54 million tonnes of the earlier fiscal, according to the central bank statistics. Food-grain import fell to 2.42 million tonnes in the 2006-07 fiscal from 2.56 million tonnes of the year back.

Finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam on several occasions stressed the need for increased agricultural production to contain inflation.

In the budget for the current fiscal year, he announced a number of measures aiming to keep supply and prices of essential food items stable.

Import duties on a number of essentials were withdrawn and the government announced the plan of setting up four wholesale markets in Dhaka and giving easy trade loan to importers. The adviser also announced that BDR's ‘dal-bhat' programme would be strengthened while the government would double imports of rice and wheat.

None of the planned four wholesale markets has so far been set up while impact of ‘dal-bhat programme of the BDR is yet to be felt on the market prices.

The finance adviser in his budget speech referred to the higher rates of inflation in South Asian neighbours to defend the country's galloping inflation.

He said inflation rates in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were 6.9 per cent, 8.1 per cent and 19.3 per cent respectively. ‘In this context, 6.9 per cent inflation in Bangladesh is not abnormal,' he argued.

But since then inflation in those countries declined, while it rose abnormally in Bangladesh.

The latest inflation rates in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were 3.79 per cent, 6.37 per cent and 17.3 per cent respectively, official statistics posted in the websites said.

India's inflation dipped to 16-month low on the back of cheaper prices of some food items, while Bangladesh saw its highest inflation since independence mainly due to skyrocketing prices of food items, frustrating all budgetary steps to keep food prices in check.

Market observers say the prices would see fresh increases in Ramadan, when consumption of some items picks.

Shailakupa farmers block road for urea Tuesday, September 11,2007 NEW AGE

DHAKA: Several thousand farmers vandalised some business establishments and blocked the Jhenaidah-Kushtia Highway at Bhatai Bazar in Shailakupa upazila for about two hours on Monday, demanding supply of urea.

About 4,000 farmers from Dudsar, Fulhari, Umedpur, Mirjapur and Dignagar union councils in Shailkupa upazila started gathering at Bhatai Bazar from the early hours, to procure urea from the fertiliser dealers at Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation, witnesses said.

But the dealers ran out of supply to meet the demand of some of the farmers who were standing in queues.

The deprived farmers, at one stage, lay down on the road, blocking the traffic on the highway. They also damaged some business establishments.

Informed, the additional deputy commissioner of Jhenaidah, Baitul Amin Bhuiyan, and the upazila nirbahi officer of Shailkupa along with law enforcing agency members reached the spot and assured them of a supply of 50-kilogram of urea per head on Tuesday.

After that the angry farmers were pacified, and withdrew the blockade at about 10:00am.

Earlier, farmers in Shailakupa had demonstrated three times in the current transplanted aman season, demanding sufficient urea.

Australia gives 38,550 tonnes of wheat Tuesday, September 11,2007 NEW AGE

DHAKA: The Australian government Sunday gave 38,550 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh for food-based programmes for the ultra poor. Australian high commissioner Douglas Foskett handed over the food aid worth Tk 78.2 crore to Shafiqul Islam, joint secretary of the food and disaster management ministry, at the Chittagong Port, said a release of the World Food Programme Monday.

Edward Kallon, deputy country representative of WFP and Peter Duncan-Jones, first secretary of Australian high commission attended the ceremony.

The food aid will be used for the vulnerable group development (VGD) and school feeding programmes of the government being implemented in partnership with WFP.

The VGD scheme targets 5.5 lakh poor people while 93,400 primary schoolchildren will be provided with nutrient-fortified biscuits under the other scheme.

Punjab farmers neck-deep in debt: Study Wednesday, September 12,2007 The Tribune

NEW DELHI: Farmers in Punjab, the most agriculturally advanced state in the country, are neck-deep in debt to the tune of around Rs 24,000 crore, a report prepared by the state government has said.

"The total indebtedness is around Rs 24,000 crore, which is more than 50 per cent of the net state domestic product (NSDP) from agriculture and livestock," said the State of Environment Report 2007 submitted to the Union Environment Ministry.

The debt is shared equally by institutional and non-institutional credit.

The report said farmers were increasingly becoming dependent on commission agents.

"As proved by results of various studies and surveys, besides institutional sources of credit, non-institutional sources, mainly commission agents also meet around 50 per cent credit needs of the farmers in the state," the report said.

The success of Green Revolution and consequent rise of per capita income of farmers has affected the socio-economic fabric of the state, it said giving vivid picture of the agricultural economy of the state.

"It has led to high expenditure lifestyles, dependence on external farm labour and little esteem for farming as a profession, especially among the young," the report said while attempting to explore the reasons for the financial downfall of the majority of Punjab farmers.

Trading gets slow on cotton market Wednesday, September 12,2007 DAWN

KARACHI, Sept 11: Trading activity on the cotton market on Tuesday slowed down as some of the leading ginners held on to their unsold positions in an effort to push prices higher.

The lead came from the Punjab ginners who were not inclined to sell their stocks around those levels at which bulk of the business was being transacted in the Sindh type, floor brokers said.

It was interesting to note that most of the deals were confined to the Sindh type while spinners did not opt for Punjab lint owing to higher asking prices.

They said during the last couple of sessions lint from both the cotton belts was being sold at par in most of the cases but Punjab ginners claimed their stuff was a bit better than its counterpart in the central Sindh. However, the lint from the upper Sindh ginneries and that of southern Punjab match both in quality and staple length and mostly fetched the same price, they added.

But some analysts said the increase in phutti prices had caused the sympathetic rise in lint prices as ginners passed on the hike to the spinners.

Earlier, the ginners from the Punjab cotton belt sold modest quantities whose staple length was affected by rain and pest attack, but the stuff was claimed to be of normal quality and must sell at a premium over the Sindh lint.

New York cotton futures were quoted higher by 0.65 and 0.75 cents per lb at 58.55 and 61.00 cents per lb for both the ruling October and the distant December contracts respectively.

There was, however, no change in the official spot rates which were quoted unchanged at the overnight level of Rs2,775 per maund.

The following deals in Sindh lint were reported on Tuesday: 1,000 bales each Tando Adam, Shahdadpur, Nawabshah, 400 bales each Hyderabad and Shahpur Chakkar at Rs2,800 to Rs2,825, 400 bales each Mirpurkhas, Sarari and 1,200 bales, Khipro at Rs2,800 and 200 bales, Hala at Rs2,825.

Pawar defends decision on wheat import Thursday, September 13,2007 The Hindu

NEW DELHI: Under pressure for importing 7.95 lakh tonnes of wheat at a high price of about Rs 16 a kg against the support price of Rs 8.50 given to domestic farmers, Union Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said that the decision had been discussed at "appropriate levels" in the government and was a "conscious decision" to augment public stocks and keep prices under check.

"The Empowered Group of Ministers took the decision which was influenced by the downward revision of the global wheat production, apprehensions about some major wheat producing countries placing restrictions on wheat exports and the Chicago Board of Trade (CboT) futures showing an upward trend of wheat prices for December 2007 and March 2008."

Mr Pawar has said this in a letter he wrote on Tuesday to members of Parliament defending the decision which, he claimed, was to insulate the weaker sections of society from the pressure of food prices inflation "which is happening in many countries of the world".

He said that the support price of Rs 850 a quintal to farmers for their rabi wheat crop this year was higher than the prevailing international price (Rs 744 a quintal warehouse price) at the time. "Purchasing wheat at a higher price in the domestic market ‘now' will not benefit farmers since most of the farmers have already sold their surplus wheat and the entire benefit would get cornered by traders. On the other hand, domestic procurement at this stage would definitely affect consumers since prices could go up on account of government purchase in the domestic market."

In his eight-page letter, Mr Pawar claimed that domestic prices had been kept under control despite the flaring up of prices in the international market. He, however, did emphasise that despite raising the support price of foodgrains for farmers, the issue price under the Public Distribution System had not been raised since 2002 resulting in an increase in the food subsidy from Rs. 23,000 crore to Rs. 30,000 crore in the last two years.

On the reversal of a decision in May to buy three lakh tonnes imported wheat, against an announcement of 10 lakh tonnes at $263 a tonne (Rs. 10.78 a kg) - while domestic procurement was on - Mr. Pawar said, the State Trading Corporation (STC) had proposed this as there was a possibility of lowering of global prices in August.

This was because fresh crop was due for harvest in major wheat exporting countries of Russia, France, Germany, Kazakistan, Ukraine, etc. Besides, the Australian crop was to be harvested during November/December and was likely to have a "softening impact" on global prices.

The Integrated Finance Division (IFD) of the Department of Food and Public Distribution examined the proposal and advised against import of wheat at the tendered $ 263 a tonne saying that "a very high benchmark price would be established for future wheat imports" and the bid was cancelled. "Had the government gone ahead with imports then it would have been accused of ignoring sound advice," Mr Pawar said.

In the meantime, the Ministry extended the date of procurement of domestic wheat by 15 days till June 15 and procured 9.38 lakh tonnes making a saving of Rs 214.14 crore, he said.

After the end of the procurement season, STC, after floating a tender, recommended purchase of 5.11 lakh tonnes of wheat at an average weighted price of $ 325.59 a tonne (Rs 1,33,449) "The pros and cons of accepting this tender at this price was discussed at appropriate levels in the government and a conscious decision was taken."

In view of the downward revision of global wheat production, a question mark on the Australian crop, the rising trend of wheat prices in the futures market and fear of restrictions on wheat export by some countries, it was decided that STC may float another tender. On the basis of this tender, STC offered to import and supply 7.95 lakh tonnes at a weighted average price of $ 389.45 a tonne (Rs. 15,967) delivered at Indian ports.

Wheat smuggling unabated Thursday, September 13,2007 DAWN

ISLAMABAD, Sept 12: Undeterred by government's rhetoric against hoarders, an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of wheat has so far been smuggled out of Pakistan over the last 45 days as domestic flour prices increased by almost 40 per cent since February this year, it is learnt.

Advisor to the finance ministry Dr. Ashfaq Hassan Khan conceded at a press conference on Tuesday that more than two million tonnes of wheat was being hoarded by black marketers.

Wheat smuggling was going on through almost all borders -- Wagah, Sindh and Balochistan -- in addition to normal and legal exports to Afghanistan. "About 200 truckloads of wheat from Sindh alone leave for Indian border every day," said a senior government official who has a formal role in essential commodities.

The official told Dawn that this year wheat prices were unusually lower in Pakistan than the rates in the international market and in India the commodity is costlier by about 40 per cent offering great profit margin to the black-marketers. Even after paying 15 per cent of their margin for border-crossing they get away with 20-25 per cent profit and there are many safe crossing points near Wagah and Khokhropar, he added.

Wheat prices have surged by almost 38 per cent to Rs1,450 per 100kg from about Rs1,050 in February despite record production of 23.5 million tonnes which is much higher than the estimated 22 million tonnes of domestic consumption and some exports to Afghanistan. In public sector its rate is fixed at Rs1,215 per 100kg.

The official said the nation was lucky to have bumper crop this year providing surplus production when the international market witnessed wheat shortage and prices touched new peaks.

"We have failed to control prices despite surplus production, thanks to the mafia within the government. Imagine what havoc might have been played with the people had there been a shortage at home," said the official saying there was a strong case to investigate which circumstances had forced the government to allow export of more than five million tonnes of wheat a few months back.

Besides illegal exports to India, the official said, Pakistani wheat was being smuggled to Iran through Balochistan-Taftan border and reaching up to some Central Asian states. This, he said, was in addition to legal exports of wheat by-products which the government banned in the last week of August.

The federal government has been warning the provincial governments to check flour prices by taking action against the hoarders. Recently, provincial governments defied centre's instructions for releasing maximum wheat stocks to flour mills between September 1 and 7, but they started very limited releases after the deadline.

The official said a number of people had misused export permits issued early this year for exporting about five million tonnes of wheat. They purchased high-quantity wheat, which was being smuggled now. Many people also misappropriated bank loans they had obtained for wheat exports, he added.

Wheat stocks in the public sector stood at 4.8 million tonnes on July 15 this year but dropped to 4.646 million tonnes as of September 9, including those with provincial governments and the Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Supplies Corporation (Passco) indicating how slow has been the public sector releases while domestic prices continued to soar during this period.

A senior official confirmed that no steps were afoot to control wheat smuggling.

Pay hike for plantation workers Thursday, September 13,2007 DAILY NEWS

COLOMBO: Labour Relations and Manpower Minister Athauda Seneviratna yesterday said he would take steps to increase the salaries of plantation workers without any disruption to the existing Collective Agreements signed between the Employers and the plantation trade unions.

"The minimum wage of a plantation worker should be placed at Rs. 5000 as against the present wage of Rs. 2000, Rs. 2500 and Rs. 3000," Seneviratna said.

The Minister said so at a meeting with the district leaders of the Independent Plantation Workers' Union, at the Labour Ministry, Colombo.

He also said that it is learnt that many plantation workers were addicted to smoking and drinking and they should be made aware of the ill-effects of these habits and how these habits have contributed to their financial strains.

Meanwhile, the plantation trade unions noted that they will fight for wage hikes of plantation workers through the wages boards with help of plantation trade unions, namely the Ceylon Workers' Congress, the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers' Union and the Joint Plantation Trade Union.

The Vice President of the Ceylon Workers' Congress, R. Yogarajan yesterday said that they had pulled out of the Collective Agreement signed between them and the Employers as the latter did not accept their request to increase the monthly salary of a plantation worker to Rs. 5,000.

The Employer's Federation has failed to increase the wages of plantation workers despite repeated requests from the trade unions, Yogarajan added.

Agro project for poverty reduction Thursday, September 13,2007 THE HIMALAYAN TIMES

LALITPUR: With the objective of reducing poverty in the rural community in the Eastern Development Region, the government has launched a Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) in 11 eastern districts with a grant assistance of $18 million from the Asian Development Bank.

Other stakeholders will provide $6.1 million for the project. The six-year project, launched from this fiscal, aims to decrease the poverty level in the region by increasing opportunities through strengthening of the capacity of local organisations.

Shiva Sundar Shrestha, chief of the Agriculture and Communication Centre at the Department of Agriculture and joint secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, said, "The project helps in the networking cycle from the producers to the consumers so that the producers get appropriate value and the consumers get the right products at reasonable prices."

"This is a new experiment for Nepal, which applies the concept of 3P - Public Private Partnership," he added. This is an ADB project in which the government will play the role of a facilitator among the producers and other stakeholders.

This project will also develop marketable skills of the poor and the landless people. It will also be helpful for the construction of rural roads, establishment of collection centres and storage units in the selected districts.

The government is expecting to increase the investment of the public and private sector in agriculture as well as the inclusion of semi-commercial stakeholders to make the agriculture sector sustainable.

Under this project, private organisations should submit proposals to avail themselves of funds needed to execute their projects. A Commercial Agriculture Fund and a non-profit Commercial Agriculture Alliance will be set up along with division offices at 11 districts in the east. The project has been initiated at Taplejung, Dhankuta, Terhathum Ilam, Panc-hthar, Udayapur, Jhapa, Morang, Saptari, Siraha and Sunsari districts.

Nato snubs bid to curb Afghan opium Thursday, September 13,2007 ALJAZEERA

KABUL: The Nato military force in Afghanistan has said that it will not take part in the eradication of opium poppy fields. Afghanistan produces about 93 per cent of the world's opium, the raw ingredient for heroin. The UN and the Afghan government have both called on Nato to allows its troops to help destroy the crop. Nato has said that it will instead support the government by providing training to Afghan security forces and sharing information and logistics. Charles Anthony, a Nato spokesman said on Wednesday: "The Nato/Isaf mission does not allow for Isaf to be directly involved in poppy eradication." The harvesting of opium poppies has already increased by a third this year despite international efforts that have cost millions of dollars.

The majority of production has occured in areas considered strongholds for members of the Taliban fighting the international forces in Afghanistan.

Losing battle

The UN office on drugs and crime urged Isaf to become involved in attempts to eradicate the crops after it released a survey last month showing opium production had risen to a record high.

International troops are struggling to contain increased attacks [GALLO/GETTY]

The Afghan government has made a similar call, saying it had asked international forces based in the country to drive out Taliban fighters from opium-growing areas so its own forces can move in to destroy the crops.

Experts have said that the Taliban is financed by the drugs trade.

In an interview with the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, Tom Koenigs, the senior UN envoy to Afghanistan, criticised the German troop contingent for not playing a role in fighting drugs.

Koenigs said: "I think the German army stationed there should support the police in the fight against drugs and drug laboratories and not say: 'That has got nothing to do with us'."

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Nato secretary general had said last week that the Afghan government and international aid agencies needed to do more in curtailing the export of heroin.

Increased attacks

Meanwhile, officials say at least 15 people have been killed in new attacks across Afghanistan.

Two Afghan policemen were killed on Wednesday when a bomb ripped through their patrol vehicle in the eastern province of Paktia, an Afghan military spokesman said.

Elsewhere the US military claimed nearly a dozen fighters were killed in the southern province of Zabul on Tuesday, after Afghan security forces had called in US-led coalition warplanes to attack their positions.

Fodder crisis hits dairy farming Friday, September 14,2007 NEW AGE

JHENIDAH: ACUTE fodder crisis is prevailing in all six upazilas of Jhenaidh badly affecting the dairy farms with many already closed.

High prices of straw, oilcake and wheat bran have put the dairy farming in the district in dire straits, farm sources said.

According to the district livestock office sources, there are 389 registered dairy farms in the district and around 80 of them have been closed due to fodder crisis.

There are some 1,73,735 milch cows in the dairy farms across the district and each farm has three to five cows.

Abdul Hai, a dairy farm owner in Sailkupa upazila, said he had three milch cows in his dairy farm.

‘Now I get only six litres of milk everyday while just two or three weeks back I used to get 12 litres on average.'

‘The recent flood washed away my haystack. Milk production in my farm has sharply declined as I cannot provide the cows with sufficient fodder,' Hai said.

Omar Ali, a resident of Khalespur village under Mahespur upazila, said he had lost grass on five bighas (one bigha is equal to 0.33 acre) of land.

Mukbul Hossain of Moheswarchang village said a milch cow usually requires 15 bundles of green grass or two bundles of dry straw everyday.

‘I spend Tk 50 to Tk 60 for each cow while I earn only Tk 100 at present, he said adding many cows have been attacked with skin diseases. Several medical teams are working in the district but it not sufficient, said Hossain.

The prices of fodder rose by around 50 per cent in just one year, farm sources said. Currently, one bundle of straw is selling for Tk 25 in local market but it was sold at Tk 15 a year ago.

Oilcake is selling for Tk 20 per kilogram against Tk 12 and wheat bran is selling for Tk 18 against Tk 9.