The banana market at Durgadaha in Joypurhat Sadar upazila has become one of the north's biggest banana trading centres, with bananas worth crores of taka changing hands every day, News Bangla reports. From dawn, farmers and traders bring bananas from across the district and neighbouring districts, and wholesalers load them onto trucks for other parts of the country.
Local traders say 30 to 35 trucks and other vehicles carry bananas from here every day to Dhaka, Noakhali, Chattogram, Cox's Bazar and northern districts. Bananas are sold by the hundred; Sagar, Malbhog and Champa varieties are traded, Champa in the largest volume.
Supply is up, but prices are not holding. Ohidul Islam of Baro Majhipara in Sadar upazila said that ten days ago he sold a hundred bananas for Tk 400 and now has to sell them for Tk 250, with few wholesalers to be found. Trader Lutfar Rahman said a good harvest means larger arrivals, and dearer fuel has raised transport costs, so banana prices are low.
Space is the other problem. Niranjan Chandra of Nalukabari in Badalgachhi, Naogaon, said the market is so small that trucks, bhotbhotis and pickups cannot get in properly, wasting time in loading and unloading. People involved say a bigger site, room for vehicles and proper loading facilities would make Durgadaha an even more important farm market for the north.
According to the agriculture department, bananas cover about 700 hectares in Joypurhat this year. Monju Alam Sarkar, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Joypurhat, said yields are good, farmers' interest is rising because the crop pays, and the Durgadaha market makes it easy for them to sell.
Labourers, drivers, loaders and commission agents also earn their living from the market. The report is by Rabbiul Hasan Romi, News Bangla's correspondent in Joypurhat.
Photo: David Stanley / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Source: News Bangla 24
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