In Durgapur, Rajshahi, farmer Ashraful is throwing away his bitter gourd at the market for lack of a price. The fields are full of bitter gourd, but there is no desired price at the market. In this situation, farmers are dumping their bitter gourd at the market itself.
Bitter gourd and vegetable growers in Durgapur, Rajshahi, have fallen into severe losses and are at their wits’ end. Forced to sell bitter gourd at just Tk 2.5 to Tk 5 a kilogram against their production costs, some are cutting down fruit-bearing plants, while others dump unsold bitter gourd at markets and roadsides and return home. Speaking to affected farmers, it was learned that growing bitter gourd cost them about Tk 25,000 to Tk 30,000 per bigha, but that in the current market they were unable to recover even a quarter of that investment.
Rakibul, a bitter gourd grower from Shalgharia village in the municipal area, said: “I grew bitter gourd spending Tk 30,000 per bigha. Now the market is giving Tk 100, Tk 150 or Tk 200 a maund. After counting losses upon losses, we have no capital left.” A visit to Hatkanpara bazaar in the upazila last Friday showed a huge supply of bitter gourd and other vegetables at the market, but wholesale traders were not quoting prices, so there was no buying or selling at all. Because no price was being quoted, the farmer Ashraful was destroying about three maunds of bitter gourd with his feet in the middle of the market. “I spent Tk 35,000 to Tk 36,000 on cultivation, weeding, irrigation and fertilizer on about one and a half bighas of land, but I could not bring home even 35 paisa,” he said. “The wholesalers at the market are quoting Tk 120 a maund. So out of my own anger and frustration I am destroying my own vegetables.”
Unable to bear the severe market slump, many farmers are cutting down the fruit-bearing plants in their fields. Moklesur Rahman, a farmer at Kanpara bazaar, said in frustration: “I have to buy one kilogram of TSP fertilizer for Tk 50, and I have to sell one maund of bitter gourd for Tk 150. So the cost of the fertilizer is not being recovered. In anger I have cut down the fresh fruit-bearing plants. I will give no more fertilizer or medicine, and I will keep no plants. There is no one to look at the farmer.”
According to the upazila agriculture extension office, Durgapur upazila is famous for vegetable cultivation. This season, bitter gourd was grown on 178 hectares of land in the upazila. Early on, farmers sold bitter gourd at Tk 80 to Tk 100 a kilogram and made good profits, but the price has now fallen somewhat. Durgapur upazila agriculture officer Sahana Parvin Labony said she advised farmers to give their vegetables regular care rather than cutting down and throwing away bitter gourd and plants. “The vegetable market rises and falls,” she said. “We are taking initiatives, along with the agricultural marketing department, so that farmers get a fair price. It is hoped that farmers will get a good price soon.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report