Boro farmers in Rangpur agriculture zone are facing problem in harvesting the crop this season for want of sufficient farm labourers.

The harvest began late April and will continue till the end of June but unavailability of farm labourers leaves the farmers uncertain about timely reaping of their ripe boro paddy, said farmers and agriculture officials.

The situation has arisen as a good number of farm labourers of the zone have gone to Comilla, Feni, Sylhet and other areas of the country to work in the paddy fields for better wages, sources said.

Earlier, a group of 5 to 20 labourers was paid Tk 1,500 to 2,000 for reaping paddy from a bigha of land, depending on the land category, but this year it has increased to Tk 2500 -- 3000, adding to the production cost of rice, farmers said.

"My boro paddy is ready for harvest but I cannot start reaping it due to crisis of labourers. Although per head daily wage has increased to Tk 400 -- 500 from Tk 300 -- 350, only a small number of labourers are available," said Moslem Uddin, 50, a farmer of Shahapur village in Badarganj upazila.

Shortage of labourers will hamper the harvest of boro paddy which needs to be cut as soon as possible for safety from natural calamities like storm, farmers said.

This year a total of 4,91,987 hectares of land was brought under boro cultivation in Rangpur, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts under Rangpur zone and the production target was 20,14,514 tonnes of rice, said sources of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

Mohammad Mohsin, additional director of the DAE in Rangpur, said boro harvest in the zone is hampered due to shortage of labourers.

"Now there is no alternative to mechanised cultivation in the zone. We are providing a harvesting device called 'combined harvesters' among the farmers to resolve the problem," he added.