Vegetable farmers count loss
Absence of cold storage facility is causing loss to vegetable farmers in the district in spite of ample production as they cannot preserve their unsold produce.
Farmer Amal of Sugondhi village in Sadar upazila said when traders come from Dhaka and other places, they can sell vegetables for Tk 12 to Tk 16 per kg, but the price drops to Tk 3 to Tk 4 per kg at other times as a lot of vegetables remain unsold.
"We have to sell the surplus vegetables at low price, otherwise they get spoiled. If we could preserve the vegetables till the next haat day we could be benefitted. A multi-purpose cold storage is needed for that," he said.
Ashim Kumar Mondal of Narendrapur village in Kachua uapzila said there has been good production of vegetables in the village and adjacent Vandarkhola village, but they have to sell the remaining vegetables at cheap price after trading closes.
If there was a multi-purpose cold storage we could preserve the vegetables and sell those on the next haat day and be benefited, he added.
Another farmer of Gazalia village in Kachua upazila said he sold vegetables worth Tk 3 lakh last year and could have got double the amount this year as the production is high, if there was a multi-purpose cold storage.
District Marketing Officer Sujat Hossain Khan said they gave a proposal at the district coordination meeting held on August 19 for building multi-purpose cold storages in Mollahat, Chitalmari and C&B Bazar areas.
Bagerhat Department of Agriculture Extension Deputy Director Aftab Uddin said as the vegetable production is high a multi-purpose cold storage will benefit the farmers by helping them to get the desired price for their produce.
Vegetables are grown mainly in Sadar, Chitalmari, Kachua and Mollahat upazilas.
More than 200 trucks full of vegetables go to Dhaka per week from the district. Every truck carries 180 to 200 sacks of different kinds of vegetables, each sack containing 65 to 70 kg vegetables, Sujat said.
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