Jute from Mohimaganj market goes back unsold due to low price
A farmer of Saghata upazila in Gaibandha returns home with jute from Mohimaganj market as he failed to get fair price of the cash crop. The photo was taken a few days ago.Photo: STAR
Huge quantity raw jute remained unsold in Mohimaganj union of Gobindaganj upazila and most growers withdrew their jute from the market due to low price.
The downtrend of the jute price this year is largely attributed to shutdown of the lone purchasing centre of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) at Mohimaganj.
Local jute growers of Gobindaganj and Shaghata upazilas are now afraid of being deprived of fair price if the jute market is captured by the middlemen.
Especially, poor and marginal farmers are in trouble as they are compelled to sell jute at a throw away price for meeting domestic expenses as well as returning the money borrowed from local 'mohajon' (man who lends money on heavy interest rate).
"I had cultivated jute on three bighas of land expecting profit. As the jute purchasing centre was shut, I had no alternative to selling the jute to brokers at low price", said Shamsul Alam, a jute grower of Jumarbri in Shaghata upazila.
At present raw 'tossa' jute is being sold from Tk 1,700 to Tk 1,900 per maund, which was Tk 2,000 to Tk 2,200 at this time of last year, said Sukur Ali, a broker at Mohimaganj market.
Crescent Jute Mills under BJMC opened a purchasing centre at Mohimaganj last year and procured 13,000 maunds of raw jute. This year the mill authorities shut down the centre on the plea of manpower shortage.
This has worried the growers of two upazilas as they are unlikely to get fair price of jute.
Seeing profit last year, the growers enhanced areas of jute farming this year, said Abdul Latif Prodhan, chairman of Mohimaganj union.
"We urged the chairman of BJMC to re-open the Mohimaganj jute purchasing centre. But the authorities turned down the request saying this year they reduced the number of centres to eight, which was 13 last year, due to manpower shortage", said Rostum Ali, a jute merchant of Mohimaganj.
Shaghata and Gobindaganj upazilas are main jute producing areas in Gaibandha district. Every year, traders procure raw jute from growers and supply to Dhaka, Narayanganj and Khulna by boats and trucks, said local jute traders.
According to upazila agriculture offices, a total of 6,350 hectares of land in Shaghata upazila and 1,225 hectares in Gobindaganj upazila have been brought under jute cultivation this season and total production is expected to reach 9,000 metric tonnes.
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