Unsold veg rotting, prices of broiler, egg drop
Unsold veg rotting, prices of broiler, egg drop
The transport problem amid the ongoing countrywide blockade imposed by BNP-led 20-party alliance wreaks havoc on the business of winter vegetables and poultry products in the northern districts.
Growers of winter vegetables in Dinajpur and Joypurhat are either selling the produces at throwaway prices or leaving those at fields, our Dinajpur correspondent reports.
Huge quantities of popular vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, bean, tomato, and gourd are getting damaged due to the situation.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) of Dinajpur, 51,724 hectares of land was brought under winter vegetable cultivation with a production target of 65,58,466 tonnes this season.
In Joypurhat, the area of winter vegetable cultivation is 20,019 hectares.
After meeting the local demand, the crops from the two districts are sent to different areas of the country.
"But this year we are facing huge losses due to the political agitation, reminding us of a similar situation last year," said Zinnath Ali of Kosba village in Dinajpur Sadar upazila.
"Now buyers are offering only Tk 3 for a cabbage, while the production cost stood at Tk 8 on an average. Besides we have transport cost to count," Azizul Islam of Chehelgazi village under Dinajpur Sadar upazila said during this correspondent's visit to the wholesale vegetable market at Bahadurbazar in Dinajpur town on Thursday.
Visiting different areas of Uttarnagar under Dinajpur Sadar upazila, this correspondent found that many farmers left their harvested vegetables on the field due to the blockade programme.
In many cases, farmers refrained from plucking matured crops.
The poultry farmers are also facing problems.
The prices of a kg of broiler dropped from Tk 170 to Tk 110, and that of each egg from Tk 7 to Tk 5, he added.
The early variety potato growers are in trouble too.
Anwarul Islam, general secretary of Dinajpur Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said farmers, rice millers and poultry farmers are badly affected due to the blockade.
Our Lalmonirhat Correspondent adds: The price of cauliflower has fallen to a meagre Tk 2 from Tk 10 a kg in a few days at Goshala Bazar in the town as wholesalers from the capital and other areas of the country cannot come here due to transport problem.
"I sold 50 maunds of cauliflowers at Tk 10 a kg a day before the blockade started. Now it is selling at Tk 2. I am worried about rest of the cauliflowers grown on four bighas land as my production cost stood at Tk 8 a kg," said Mobarok Hossain, a farmer at Karnapur village in Lalmonirhat Sadar.
Taking the advantage of blockade, middlemen are offering very low prices for vegetables to the farmers, said Surendra Nath Sen, a farmer of Dighaltari village of Aditmari upazila.
"I and some other vegetable traders destroyed huge cauliflowers on Wednesday noon as the item, lying unsold due to lack of transport, rotted," said Azadur Rahman, a trader at Goshala Bazar, the biggest vegetable market in the district.
Around six thousand farmers produced cauliflower on about 2,000 hectares of land in different areas of the district this year, DAE sources said.