Bottle gourd farmers in Bagha, Rajshahi, are in trouble. Many are taking their gourds home after failing to sell them at the market, and one or two have even left their unsold gourds at the market itself. This happened on Saturday at Arani municipal haat in the upazila.

Habibur Rahman of Arani Gochor mahalla grew bottle gourd on one bigha of land. Fertiliser, seed, irrigation, labour and building the trellis cost him Tk 48,000. At first he sold gourds weighing one and a half to two kg for Tk 40-45 each. Midway through the season he sold them for Tk 25-35 each, and later for Tk 5-10. But on Saturday he found no buyers at the market and took them back home.

He had picked 160 gourds from his field on Saturday. Picking cost Tk 160 in labour, van fare to the market Tk 100, and van fare back home, when they did not sell, another Tk 100, a total of Tk 360.

Habibur Rahman said 400 more gourds are still hanging in his field. If he does not pick and sell them, the trellis will break and he will face losses.

Laltu, a bottle gourd farmer of Gochor village in the upazila, said: "In the morning I gave 36 gourds to a shopkeeper at the market. I have no idea how much he will pay once they are sold. I still have some gourds in the field."

Jahangir Hossain of Arani Kushabaria village picked 75 gourds and brought them to the market. He gave them to vegetable trader Nazrul Islam at Arani haat to sell, and the trader said he would not pay if he could not sell them. Jahangir agreed and left them there.

Nazmul Hossain of Chak Bausa village grew bottle gourd on one and a half bighas. "Unable to sell my gourds, I left them at the wholesale depot," he said. "If they don't sell, the trellis will break under their weight. With that in mind I have given some gourds away free."

Sujon Ali, a wholesale bottle gourd trader of Bausa Miapara village, said that last week he took 600 gourds to Dhaka and sold them at an average of Tk 7 each, losing about Tk 7,500. "I did not buy gourds at the Bagha and Arani markets. There were no wholesale buyers for gourds at the market, so I did not buy on Saturday."

Gourd trader Ataur Rahman said: "On Tuesday I bought 200 gourds at Tk 6.50 each and hawked them from village to village by van. I made no profit, but somehow I sold them all."

Upazila agriculture officer Shafiullah Sultan said bottle gourd has been grown on 78 hectares in the upazila. Prices were good at the start of the season, but demand has fallen as the cold weather has eased. The upazila has produced a very large quantity of bottle gourd this season, he said.

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