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Fortune fails to smile on Pabna farmers

Vegetable prices lower than production cost

Ahmed Humayun Kabir TOPU, Pabna
Bumper yield of winter vegetables fails to make farmers in the famous vegetable producing district happy as excessive supply has led to serious price fall of the items.
A kg of radish is selling foras low asTk one.
"I have cultivated radish on five bighas of land spending Tk 30 thousand and got over 500 maunds of yield. Usually it would earn me Tk 50 thousand but now I am uncertain about recovery of even half of the production cost due to alarming price fall in last few weeks," said Md Abdul Gani of Char Shanikdiar village in Pabna Sadar upazila.
Prices for all other vegetables have fallen too, said Md Shahidur Rahman, a vegetable wholesaler of Shahpur village.
"I have cultivated cauliflower on three bighas of land spending Tk 1.4 lakh and got 18 thousand pieces of the vegetable. Production cost per piece stood at Tk 7 but I have to sell it for Tk 5 to 6 in the wholesale market,” said Montu Mondol, a farmer of Bokterpur village.
Wholesale price of a maund (40 kg) of cauliflower is Tk 200, brinjal Tk 200 to 250, bean Tk 200 to 300, turnip Tk 160 to 200, said sources of vegetable wholesale markets in the district.
Aubergines sell atTk 5-6 a kilogram, while its production cost stants atTk 10 per kg, said farmer
Siddiqur Rahman Moyez of Joynagar in Ishwardi upazila.
However, carrot and piazer ful are selling for a bit good prices - Tk 600 to 800 per maund.
"I supplied five to six truckloads of vegetables daily during the peak of winter vegetable season last year but in this year I cannot supply more than two to three truckloads of vegetables due to the poor demand," said Md Sohrab Ali, a vegetable wholesale of Ishwardi.
Vegetable growers and traders would face huge losses this year due to the low market prices this year, he added.
Twenty-four thousand hectares of land in the district has been brought under winter vegetable cultivation and four lakh tonnes of yield is expected, said AI Shahin, development officer of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) in the district.
"The district sees increased production of vegetables in recent years. The production in last five years are 2.15 lakh, 2.33 lakh 2.51 lakh, 3.31 lakh and 3.54 lakh tonnes respectively," he said.
“Due to the suitable weather farmers got bumper yield of winter vegetables this year. As the supply is more than the demand the prices saw serious fall," said Md Mostafizur Rahman, deputy director of DAE, Pabna.