Pirojpur boat sellers in utter despair

The fall in production of guavas and hog plums has affected the sale of boat significantly, leaving the boat sellers in utter despair amid coronavirus outbreak in Nesarabad upazila of the district.

Locals said every year during monsoon, floating markets on canals crisscrossing hundreds of guava and hog plum orchards in Kuriana and Jolabari unions under Nesarabad upazila become alive with visitors, buyers and traders from different parts of the country.

But this time, the production of guava and hog plum in the area has fallen drastically due to the havoc wreaked by cyclone Bulbul and Amphan. The storms have damaged a large number of orchards in the unions. The guava trees have also been attacked by the disease anthracnose this year. Apart from this, the sale of guava and hog plum falls drastically in the markets due to coronavirus outbreak.

Local people of Nesarabad upazila in Pirojpur and nearby Barishal and Jhalakathi districts mainly use small boats to collect guavas and hog plums from the orchards and carry them to the floating markets.

They buy the boats from the age-old Noukar Haat (boat market) on Atgar canal in Nesarabad upazila. The weekly haat is held on every Friday for three months from mid-May to mid-August every year during the rainy season. The price of each boat is between TK 3,000 to Tk 6,000 depending on wood quality.

Boat seller Faruq Hossain from Chami village in the upazila said almost all the guava and hog plum farmers buy at least one boat every year to collect, carry and sell guavas and hog plums that grow in abundance in the area during monsoon. But this year the scenery is totally opposite.

"I am involved in selling boat for over 40 years. But I have never faced such acute shortage of buyers like this year," said another boat seller Nadir Hossain of Banaripara upazila in Barishal.

He further added that around 200 boats would be sold at every haat during the previous years. But the number does not cross over 50 this year.

Md Shakib Hawlader, a leasee of the boat market, said now people are not showing interest to visit the market due to fear of getting infected with coronavirus. It is another reason behind the falling sales.

Sukhlal Halder, sub-assistant agriculture officer of Nesarabad upazila, said the production of guavas has fallen as mostly farmers did not spend extra money for pesticides or fertiliser during the peak season of harvesting the fruit. As a result, its price has fallen drastically.

This year, guava has been cultivated on 657 hectares of land while hog plum on 350 hectares of land, said the officer.