"Last year I sold a melon for Tk 30 to 60 depending on the type. This year I have to sell one for Tk 15 to 20. Because of severe drought and no rain, the yield is lower than last year, and on top of that prices are low. At these prices we will not even recover our costs; we will make a loss."

So said Alam Biswas, a bangi (melon) farmer from Buruya village in Kalabari union of Kotalipara upazila in Gopalganj. He is not alone: hundreds of melon farmers in Kotalipara fear losses like him.

According to the Kotalipara Upazila Agriculture Office, melons have been grown on 434 hectares in the upazila this year. But unfavourable weather hurt the yield, and with few buyers the market for melons has collapsed. Prices of fertiliser, seed and pesticide have risen this year, pushing up costs, so hundreds of farmers in the area fear losses instead of profits.

Melons are grown most in Buruya, Machhpara, Nalua, Tetulbari and Hijalbari villages of Kalabari union, where watermelon and melon farming is one of the main sources of annual income. About 50 wholesale depots (arat) have sprung up at the local Kaliganj market to sell the melons, which go to Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Manikganj, Khulna and other parts of the country. This year, though, traders from those areas have not come, and the aratdars are sitting idle.

Madhu Biswas, a farmer from Hijalbari village, said: "Last year I made a good profit from melons, and I thought I would again. But this time severe drought and no rain made the yield poor, and I did not get a price either. This time I will make a loss."

Loknath Mondal of Tetulbari village said he grew melons on two bighas. "At the price I am selling, forget profit, it is hard even to get back what I put in."

Bishnu Tikadar, an aratdar in the Kaliganj area, said: "Every year at this time traders came here to buy melons from Dhaka, Narayanganj, Manikganj, Gazipur and other areas. This year they are not coming, so we aratdars are sitting idle."

Upazila Agriculture Extension Officer Debashis Das said melons were grown on 434 hectares in Kotalipara this year, and the upazila agriculture office helped farmers with fertiliser, seed and advice. Because the crop came a little late this year, farmers are not getting the prices they hoped for, he said.

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