Markets and neighbourhoods across Jhalakathi are full of seasonal fruit. The fruit is arriving by various vehicles from far away, and the markets are busy with buyers and sellers from morning until midnight every day.

A visit found lychees, mangoes, jackfruit, bananas, papayas, dewa, jam (black plum), kau and other fruit on Kalibari Road, the main road of Jhalakathi Bazar, at the town's Boro Bazar and at other markets. The lychee market is the busiest.

With no shortage of fruit, buyers are very happy. Lychees are selling at Tk 250 to 300 per hundred, and mangoes at Tk 40 to 70 a kg depending on variety. Dewa sells for Tk 20 to 60 depending on size, kau fruit at Tk 70 a kg and jam at Tk 300 to 450 a kg.

Fruit trader Ramzan Ali told Jago News that lychees, mangoes, jackfruit and other seasonal fruit come by truck from the north of the country. "We buy wholesale there and sell in the retail market. We sell once we make a reasonable profit on the purchase price," he said.

Sultan Bepari, who came to buy seasonal fruit, told Jago News: "New fruit has come to the market, so prices are a bit high. Still, I bought some for my family."

Another buyer, Shakil Mia, said the price of every fruit has risen compared with last year.

Fruit trader Junayed said demand for seasonal fruit is high, but because prices are high many people are losing interest.

Monirul Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) in Jhalakathi, said the yield is higher than last time. But the intense heat has made fruit ripen early, so the market has got busy before the usual time.

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