The Durgadah banana market in Joypurhat has become a major centre of the banana trade in the north. Local traders say bananas worth a crore taka change hands there every day. From early morning the market fills with rows of banana heaps and the calls of buyers and sellers.
Farmers and traders bring ripe and green bananas from across the district, and wholesalers buy them and send them by truck to markets around the country. Trader Azizul Islam of Ayma in Panchbibi said 30 to 40 truckloads go every day to Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chattogram, Cox's Bazar and every district in the north.
The market supports transport workers, labourers and commission agents, but farmers' profits are shrinking. Banana grower Md Enamul Islam of Dogachhi in Joypurhat Sadar said a bunch he sold for Tk 300 to 400 ten to fifteen days ago now fetches Tk 200 to 250, and there are few wholesalers at the market.
The small site causes problems too. Alek Uddin of Nanais village in Dhamoirhat, Naogaon, said trucks, locally made vehicles and pickups cannot get into what he called the north's largest banana market, making loading and unloading difficult. Traders complain that despite the volume of business, the market has seen no improvement.
Sadia Sultana, additional deputy director (horticulture) of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Joypurhat, said banana cultivation is growing because yields this year are good and profitable; 700 hectares are under bananas in the district. Farmers and traders are benefiting from the Durgadah market, she said, and the department is providing advice and support.
Photo: Masumcity / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); banana bunches at a fruit stall, for illustration
Source: Krishi Sangbad
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