Dhaka: Farmers on Saturday urged the government to save them by ensuring that they get fair price for paddy.

They made the call at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity. It was jointly organised with Bangladesh Auto Rice Mills Owners’ Association (BARMOA), the UNB reported.

Their demands included ‘identifying real farmers’, disbursing loan at two percent interest, and reducing electricity bill for irrigation.

‘We can survive if the government fixes price of per maund at Tk800-1,000,’ said Sohrab Hossain, a farmer from Rangpur.

He urged the government to accept their demand. ‘We’ll be forced to stop producing paddy if we have to count loss,’ he said.

Each maund of paddy is currently being sold at Tk500-600, an amount lower than the production cost, he said.

AKM Khorshed Alam Khan, president of BARMOA, demanded reopening the rice mills that have been shut down. He also pitched for lowering interest rate and electricity price.

‘We’ll be able to export around one million ton of rice if the closed mills are reopened,’ he said.