Rangpur farmers allege tobacco companies lured them into overexpansion, then left them with unsold harvests
5 hour(s) ago
S Dilip Roy
Nearly 50,000 farming families across the Rangpur region are directly or indirectly involved in tobacco cultivation. Photo: Star
Abdus Sattar had never farmed so much tobacco in his life.This year, the 35-year-old from Saptibari village in Lalmonirhat's Aditmari upazila converted all 18 bighas of his land to the crop -- up from 10 the previous season -- after company representatives assured him they would buy every kilogram he produced at Tk 220 per kg.The math seemed simple. The promise seemed solid. He produced around 360 kg of tobacco per bigha. Now he stands in his field with nowhere to sell.The companies have purchased barely 20 percent of his harvest, rejecting the rest as low quality. He is now selling the remaining produce in local markets for less than his production cost of Tk 100–110 per kg."For so long, we did not realise we were trapped in a cycle of deception," he said. "This year we have understood the reality."
