Bagerhat has had a bumper betel nut crop this year, but prices have fallen by Tk 150 to 300 a kuri depending on quality. Despite the higher yield, growers are in difficulty because prices are lower than last time. Traders say prices have eased somewhat because demand is weak at the big wholesale markets.

One of the district's biggest betel nut markets is Badhal Bazar in Kachua upazila. Twice a week, on Sundays and Thursdays, it comes alive with the calls of buyers and sellers from first light. Betel nuts brought in baskets, bags and sacks from across the district are bought and sold through bargaining until noon. On a market day, Tk 1 crore to Tk 1.5 crore worth of betel nuts are sold. Through wholesalers they go to Chattogram, Rangpur, Cumilla and other parts of the country.

The betel nut trade at Badhal Bazar employs more than 500 workers, who earn Tk 1,000 to Tk 2,000 a day sorting, counting, bagging and loading nuts onto trucks.

According to the agriculture office, betel nut was grown on 10,000 acres in Bagerhat this year, with a production target of about 27,000 tonnes.

Although yields are high across the district, growers are suffering from falling prices. A kuri (210 nuts) is selling for Tk 300 to Tk 700, which is Tk 150 to 300 less than last season and earlier this season.

Wholesale buyer Md Niyam Gazi said: "I have been in this trade for 18 years. The yield is much higher this year, so prices are a little lower than last year."

Jibon Dakua, a grower from Ramchandrapur in Kachua, said: "What we earned last year, we will not earn less this year, because the yield is good. The price is about Tk 150 a kuri lower than last year. If prices had stayed the same, growers would have profited more."

Khan Shahiduzzaman Milton, the leaseholder of Badhal Bazar, said arrangements had been made for free trading in the market to ensure growers' security and fair prices. "To increase trade at this century-old market, no toll is taken from growers. But the market is short of space, which makes movement difficult for buyers and sellers. If adjoining land were acquired to enlarge the market, there would be more buyers and sellers."

Md Motahar Hossain, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Bagerhat, said: "Bagerhat's soil and climate are very suitable for betel nut, but farmers do not look after the trees properly. With regular care, yields would rise further. Farmers are being given advice and training for that."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.