Pomelo growers in the hills of Rangamati have had a bumper harvest this year. After meeting local demand the fruit is going to markets in Dhaka and Chattogram, giving farmers fair prices and wholesalers a profit.
According to the agriculture department, Rangamati produced 13,500 metric tonnes of pomelo on 1,175 hectares this year, generating trade worth Tk 20 crore at farm level and Tk 100 crore for traders.
Boats bring the fruit across Kaptai Lake from distant hills to the Rangamati truck terminal ghat, where workers load it straight onto trucks bound for Dhaka and Chattogram. Five to ten truckloads leave for the plains every day.
Wholesaler Md Sohel said business was brisk until recently because transport was cheap, but the rise in fuel prices has pushed up costs; demand in the plains keeps trade going. Grower Sohag Chakma said local retail prices are poor and there is no cold store to keep pomelos, so farmers have to sell to wholesalers, though retail pays more: a pair sells for Tk 40 to 60.
Md Moniruzzaman, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Rangamati, said pomelo is a profitable fruit that does not rot easily and yields heavily. Favourable weather and modern cultivation produced this year's bumper crop, he said, and jhum farmers in the hills are now taking up pomelo too.
With no cold storage and rising freight costs, much of the margin stays with traders rather than growers, which is why better storage and market access for hill fruit remain a long-standing demand of farmers in the region.
The report is by Krishi Shomoy's Rangamati correspondent.
Source: Krishi Shomoy
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