Areca (betel) nut growers in Bagerhat's Morrelganj upazila harvested much less this year but are pleased with the high prices, Krishi Shomoy's Bagerhat correspondent reports. The upazila grew areca nut on 750 hectares this season and produced about 6,300 tonnes, which goes beyond local demand to districts across the country.
Hoglapasha, Bongram, Khaulia, Ramchandrapur and Chingrakhali unions grow the most, but rows of areca palms line homesteads and field ridges in nearly every village. With little extra cost, the money from selling the nuts goes into household spending and the cost of other crops.
The areca nut market at Boulpur bazar sits every Tuesday and Saturday, and close to a crore taka of nuts change hands on each market day, the report says. Several growers, among them Dilip Biswas of Boro Haripur, Moslem Howlader of Gobindapur and Samsur Rahman of Kaliamega, said this year's yield was about half of last year's but the price had doubled. Nuts they sold for Tk 500 to 600 a kuri last year now fetch Tk 800 to 1,000.
Traders said a kuri of good-quality nuts cost at most Tk 600 last year; the same quality now costs Tk 1,000 to 1,100, and medium quality Tk 700 to 800. Higher prices mean traders need more cash to buy. From the market the nuts go by truck to Rangpur, Bogura, Natore, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Chattogram.
Boulpur traders Rezaul Sheikh, Kabir Sheikh, Mohit Khan, Shahin Shikder, Nazmul Howlader and Siddik Sheikh said the good price is letting growers recover part of what they lost to the smaller crop.
Morrelganj upazila agriculture officer Saiful Islam said the yield was somewhat lower this year but prices were good and farmers were making money. If prices hold, he said, interest in areca nut will grow and the crop will play a bigger part in the area's economy. The report was filed by Krishi Shomoy's Bagerhat correspondent.
Photo: Tanweer Morshed / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Krishi Shomoy
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