Betel leaf (paan), a cash crop that earns foreign currency, is no longer going abroad because its export price has been raised. As a result, farmers in Bangladesh are not getting fair prices for betel leaf at home. Indebted and frustrated, the farmers have submitted a memorandum with eight demands calling for the problems to be solved quickly.

At midday on 10 September, the Gournadi upazila committee of the Bangladesh Paan Chashi Samiti (Betel Leaf Farmers' Association) in Barishal held rallies at the Gournadi bus stand on the Dhaka-Barishal highway and on the upazila premises, pressing eight demands including higher betel leaf exports to protect the farmers who earn foreign currency.

The rally was presided over by Monir Hossain Sardar, upazila convener of the farmers' association. Professor Abdus Sattar, central president of the Jatiya Krishak Khetmajur Samiti, said, "Betel leaf farmers have taken loans of lakhs of taka from NGOs to grow betel leaf. Now, not getting a fair price in the market, they cannot repay their loans."

District president Professor Jalilur Rahman said, "For a long time Bangladesh earned an average of Tk 200 to 300 crore a year exporting betel leaf to various countries in Europe and the Middle East. But since February 2025 that has almost stopped."

Blaming what he called unrealistic decisions by the Ministry of Commerce and the customs department, he said that while the export price of betel leaf was $1 a kg in the 2023-24 financial year, it was set at $5 a kg from February 2025. As a result, foreign buyers are no longer taking betel leaf from Bangladesh, and farmers are not getting fair prices at home.

Others who spoke included Zafar Ahmed Talukder, publicity secretary of the district committee of the Jatiya Krishak Khetmajur Samiti; Nimai Mondal, assistant secretary of the central committee of the betel leaf farmers' association; and district leader Professor Md Harun-or Rashid.

The demands were:

• Remove all barriers imposed on betel leaf exports immediately, to increase exports.
• Suspend the collection of NGO loan instalments from affected betel leaf farmers during the crisis.
• Bring poor farmers who depend solely on betel leaf under government relief and rehabilitate them.
• Give incentives to betel leaf farmers as well as the government incentives given to exporters.
• Cut the prices of inputs for betel leaf farming, including oil cake, fertiliser and pesticides.
• Set up a betel leaf research centre and storage facilities, and establish betel leaf-based industries.
• Introduce insurance for betel leaf farmers.

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