Thirty-eight farmers from Pabna and Natore greeted Rajshahi Divisional Commissioner Md Yusuf Ali on Thursday with 52 kinds of fruit and vegetables they had grown themselves. The centrepiece, handed over at the commissioner's office hall at about 3pm, was an elephant-foot yam weighing 16 kilograms. Carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, aubergines, peanuts, onions, garlic, dragon fruit, papaya, aromatic rice, guava, bananas, pumpkin, hog plum and bottle gourd filled out the display.

The gifts came with a list of problems in marketing and processing farm produce. Siddiqur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Krishak Samity, known as 'Kul Moyez' for a jujube-growing method he devised, asked that farm lending not be left to NGOs. An NGO starts collecting instalments a week after disbursing a loan, he said, and no crop is ready in a week.

He also said farmers rely on three-wheeled 'bhotbhoti' carts to get produce to market but are stopped and fined by police. Either a separate service lane should be provided for farm goods, he said, or the carts should be permitted. He called for research into agro-processing.

Abdul Jalil, the association's general secretary, nicknamed 'Litchu Kitab' for his part in Ishwardi's litchi boom, said there is no way to store litchi: fruit not sold within a day of picking is lost. Abroad, he said, litchi is turned into spirit for pharmaceuticals; even juice processing at home would help growers.

Hasan Ali, the association's organising secretary, questioned how fertiliser is allocated. If supply were matched to the crops actually in the ground and the timing of their needs, there would be no shortage, he said, but allocations are made as a flat monthly average. Other farmers complained of low prices for local garlic and onions.

Commissioner Yusuf Ali, himself an agriculturist, and additional commissioners Mohammad Habibur Rahman and Shahana Akhter Jahan, both agriculturists too, heard the farmers out, acknowledged weaknesses in the country's agricultural marketing system and promised to try to resolve what they could. The commissioner urged growers to take up small red jackfruit and to look after the soil. Using organic manure, he said, would halve the demand for chemical fertiliser.

Among those present were Md Rasel, general secretary of the association's Pabna district unit, Tohurul Islam, vice-president of the Ishwardi upazila unit, and Abu Talib Joarder.

Source: Prothom Alo