The government incentives given to the marginal farmers to increase agriculture -productivity are not distributed properly among the actual recipients in Ulipur upazila of Kurigram district.
It is alleged, by excluding the actual farmers, the government incentives are paid to the non-farmers by adopting nepotism. As a result, the great effort of the government to assist the marginal farmers is proving futile. Farmers of the Upazila have expressed their anger and dissatisfaction over such a situation.
The authenticity of the situation was revealed by talking to some farmers of the area.
However, Mosharraf Hossain, Upazila Agriculture Officer in this connection said, due to the scanty of the sanctioned amount, it was not possible to include all the farmers under the incentive programme.
According to sources, Ulipur, a remote frontier Upazila under Kurigram district is being devastated by the erosion of the rivers Kirtinsaha, Teesta, Dharala, Dudhkumar and the Brahmaputra every year and the farmers are the worst hit by the effect of the erosion. Being hit by the erosion of the rivers, thousands of families of the upazila turned paupers. Among one Municipality and 13 unions, eight unions of the upazila are badly hit by the erosion of the river. Farmers of the region can cultivate Rabi crops only in their fields from April to September only. According to the Upazila Agriculture Office, Rabi crops like Mustard, Wheat, Maize, Lentil, Mungbean, Khesarim, Onion, Sunflower and Peanuts are mainly cultivated in the region. Moreover, Jute, Aush Paddy and Transplanted Aman Paddy area also cultivated in some areas of the upazila.
It is learnt, 26,000 marginal farmers of the upazila are supposed to receive fertiliser and seeds as government incentives but the real picture is grim as none of the farmers receive such incentives.
According to sources, non-farmers are listed as marginal farmers and being paid the incentives.
Abdul Khalek, a marginal farmer of remote Char village Arjuner Char of Daldalia unIon informed he had been cultivating Onion and Peanut every year on the Charland but he never received the incentives. He further informed, couple of years ago, some non-farmers in the area received Onion Seed and Fertiliser as government incentives.
Marginal farmer Hossain Ali of Chardari Kishorepur village under Thetrai union informed, that he cultivated Onion and Sweet Potato on one acre of land and the Sub-Divisional Agriculture Officer Kamal Hossain and his people erected a sign on his land where another person's name as the owner of the land and the cultivated crops were mentioned.
Sub-divisional Agriculture Officer Kamal Hossain in this connection said some irregularities were made while implementing the lists supplied by the local Chairmen and the Members. He, however, assured there will be no such irregularity from the next time.
Upazila Agriculture Officer Mosharraf Hossain informed, that the number of farmers in upazila is huge in numbers, and many farmers are deprived of getting the incentives. He, however, assured to look after the incident properly next time.
DD of DAE, Kurigram Abdullah Al Mamun informed, according to the rules, the actual marginal farmers should be included as the recipients of the government incentives and action will be taken against the responsible persons violating the rules.
Ataur Rahman, Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Ulipur in this connection said, he is unaware of the incident. He would talk to the Upazila Agriculture Officer and take necessary action in this regard, he added.
