Atwari upazila in Panchagarh has had a bumper bottle gourd crop this year, but with output well above demand the price has collapsed. In some places four gourds sell for one taka; elsewhere each fetches Tk 2 to 5. Yet the same gourds, bought cheaply from farmers, sell for Tk 20 to 30 each in retail markets, Banglanews24 reported.
Facing losses, many farmers have stopped tending their plots; some are cutting down the vines and others are feeding gourds to their cattle. By the farmers' own reckoning, they must sell about 200 gourds to buy a kilo of coarse rice, and about 3,000 to buy a kilo of beef at Tk 750.
Dulal Islam of Telipara in Mirzapur union said he spent Tk 60,000 to 70,000 growing gourds on 40 decimals of land and has so far earned only Tk 3,000, not even enough to pay his labourers. Another farmer of the same name said he had cut down his vines for want of a fair price and is feeding some of the gourds to his cows.
Ansarul Islam of Jholjholi Ularchap has not tended his plot for ten days. Fertiliser and pesticide prices are rising and a labourer costs Tk 600 to 700 a day, he said, while gourds from the field sell for five taka at most; without a fair price, people will eventually be forced to give up farming.
Local trader Soleman Ali said both the area planted and the yield were good in Atwari this year, but production exceeds demand and outside markets are not paying well either. Farmers blame weak market management for losses despite a good harvest. Upazila agriculture officer Mostak Ahmed did not answer repeated phone calls.
According to the district Department of Agricultural Extension, bottle gourd is grown on about 550 to 600 hectares in Panchagarh every year.
The report was filed by Banglanews24's district correspondent in Panchagarh.
Photo: Bottle gourds in a Dhaka market, Salim Khandoker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Banglanews24
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