In Naogaon district, known as the granary of the north, fog is announcing the arrival of winter. With this early winter, cauliflower, beans, tomatoes and various other winter vegetables have started arriving in local markets. Prices were high at first but have begun to fall within a week, and farmers are happy to be getting a fair price.

This was the picture at the municipal wholesale market in the Goshtohatir Mor area of Naogaon town on the morning of Thursday (October 23).

Depending on quality, traders were selling cauliflower at Tk 80 to Tk 100 a kg, beans (shim) at Tk 100 to Tk 110, tomatoes at Tk 100 to Tk 110, radish at Tk 25 to Tk 30, spinach at Tk 70 to Tk 80 and red amaranth at Tk 30 a kg.

A week earlier, depending on quality, cauliflower sold at Tk 130 to Tk 140 a kg in this market, beans at Tk 200 to Tk 250, tomatoes at Tk 110 to Tk 120, radish at Tk 35 to Tk 40, spinach at Tk 100 to Tk 110 and red amaranth at Tk 40 a kg.

Farmer Joynal Hossain came to the market from Bachari village in Sadar upazila to sell cauliflower. Asked about prices, he said: "I grow early winter vegetables every year before winter in the hope of good prices. This time too I grew cauliflower on 2 bighas. It cost at most Tk 70,000. I've already sold about Tk 80,000 worth of cauliflower from a little less than 1 bigha."

"Even five days ago I sold this cauliflower at Tk 130 a kg," he said. "But now I have to sell to wholesalers at Tk 75. Even so, I'm satisfied. At this time last year, the supply of cauliflower suddenly shot up and we were deprived of a fair price. Considering that, I'm making a good profit this time."

Wholesale bean trader Hossain Liton Hossain said that while other vegetable prices have not fallen much, the supply of beans has risen somewhat over the past few days, and demand is low by comparison. Beans that sold at Tk 250 a kg a week ago now have to be sold at Tk 110. "We are buying beans from farmers' fields at Tk 90 a kg," he said.

Radish trader Belal Hossain said less radish was grown in Naogaon this time among the early winter vegetables, so it has to be brought from Mahasthan in neighbouring Bogura district. "After buying at Tk 20 a kg, I'm now selling this radish at Tk 25 a kg. As supply increases, prices are likely to fall further," he said.

Buyer Nirob Sardar, who came to the wholesale market from the Par Naogaon neighbourhood of the town, said: "With prices of goods rising, I have to come here to buy vegetables a little cheaper. The current prices of early winter vegetables are more or less affordable. But at a few shops I saw traders selling vegetables for far more than they paid the farmers. The administration should step up monitoring to keep the market stable."

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