The special train for carrying vegetables left Chapainawabganj without any goods on board. It set off from Rohanpur railway station in the district at 9.15am on Saturday (26 October), but no farmer sent vegetables on it, so on its first day the train ran without any produce.

Arafat Rahman, a resident of the Rohanpur area, said the train fare is lower than a pickup's. But on top of the fare, porters and separate transport from the field to the station and from the station to the market bring the cost to more than Tk 3 a kg, whereas carrying goods by truck on the road costs them Tk 2 to Tk 2.5 a kg.

A farmer, Shafiqur Rahman, said the morning departure also raises worries about selling the produce. "Our vegetables mostly go to Dhaka by pickup. We set off in the evening, reach Dhaka by the time of the Fajr call to prayer, and it is sold. But this train runs in the morning, so when will we sell?"

Mamun Ali, assistant station master at Rohanpur railway station, said the special goods train arrived at Rohanpur at night and left at 9.15am without any farm produce; nobody sent any vegetables on it. Running via Amnura station in the district and stopping at 13 stations, it will reach Tejgaon station at 5.20pm. The cost will be Tk 1.30 per kg of produce.

The vegetable special train has been launched from Rohanpur station to carry farmers' vegetables at low cost.

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