College students in Tangail came together to help paddy farmer Abdul Malek harvest his crops after he set some of it on fire. He had done so in protest of the significant fall in paddy prices and the serious scarcity of affordable day labourers in the district.
After the incident went viral on social and mainstream media, students from Government Saadat College, Government MM Ali College, Lion Nazrul Islam Degree College took the decision to save the rest of Malek’s crop.
So these college students harvested Malek’s paddy in the Kalihati upazila on Wednesday.
The students remarked that farmers in the district, despite seeing a bumper production can neither harvest these crops nor get a fair price.
“If farmers survive, the country as a whole survives,” said Government MM Ali College student Al Amin.
Farmer Abdul Malek said: “I was heartbroken to see my ripe crops rotting in the field and I could not hire any day labourers to harvest them. On top of that, the price of paddy had fallen significantly.
“So on Sunday, in a moment of anger and frustration, I set my paddy field on fire, destroying substantial portion of my heart and soul’s work.”
