Bagerhat betel nut farmers all smiles

Fair prices have brought smile to Bagerhat betel nut growers although the yield of the nut is not good this year due to cyclone Amphan.

Bagerhat district is famous for producing quality betel nuts, said agriculture officials.

On a visit to the betel nut market in Kachua upazila on Thursday, this correspondent found that per kuri (231 pieces) betel nut was being sold at Tk 500 to Tk 700 depending on the size.

The market was abuzz with farmers and traders. Hundreds of workers remained busy filling the sacks with different sizes of betel nuts.

Betel nuts are sold here for more than crores of taka weekly, said traders, adding that over 50 wholesale traders buy betel nuts on the haat day.

The traders send the nuts to the wholesalers of around 20 districts including Dhaka, Chattogram, Rangpur and Dinajpur. In Kachua upazila, about 4,114 tonnes of betel nuts are produced on 1,210 hectares of land annually.

The nuts are also sold in Badhal, Taleswar, Tangrakhali, and Gajaliya haat of the upazila.

Apart from Kachua, more betel nuts are produced in Morrelganj and Sadar upazilas of Bagerhat. Betel nuts are also produced in Fakirhat, Chitalmari and other upazilas of the district. About 26,000 tonnes of betel nuts are produced on 4,725 hectares of land in the district every season.

Sishir Das, a betel nut seller of Sreerampur village in Kachua upazila, said they used to get bumper production of the nut.

"But this year our betel nut production has been decreased due to cyclone Amphan. However, this time the price has increased," he said.

Ashim Chakrabortty of Sangdia village in Kachua upazila said, the yield of betel nut is good in their area. Currently, the production of betel nut has decreased due to waterlogging and saline water intrusion towards the canals.

Workers Pranab, Motaleb and Jafor said the haat sits twice a week. Each of them gets Tk 5 for sorting nuts per kuri.

Narayan Bawali, president of Kachua Bazar Betel Nut Businessmen's Association, said they buy these betel nuts from different haats and then send them to different districts of the country.

Chairman of Kachua Union Parishad Shikder Hadiuzzaman said quality betel nuts are produced in Kachua upazila. Every family in this area has a betel nut tree.

Kachua upazila agriculture officer Lovely Khatun said 18,000 growers in the upazila are involved in betel nut farming. This year the production has decreased due to storm and intrusion of saltwater.

But if saline water intrusion from the Taleshwar Sluice Gate at the border of Kachua upazila can be prevented, the production of betel nut will be increased, she said.

Sanjay Das, deputy director (acting) of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Bagerhat, said in recent times, the production of betel nut has decreased due to various reasons.

To increase the production, the farmers can use organic fertiliser in their betel nut orchards, he said.