The seasonal pineapple has started arriving in full at Samataghat, the floating market of Rangamati, the district ringed by hills and lake. Prices were high at the start of Ramadan but have fallen by about half within a week. Farmers are somewhat worried about covering their production costs, while wholesale traders from far away say they are making losses.

On a visit to Samataghat at Banarupa Bazar in the town, the lake was crowded with boats laden with pineapples. Pineapples that sold for Tk 10 to 45 a piece, depending on size, a week before Ramadan are now selling for only Tk 5 to 22. Farmers are a little disappointed but have more or less accepted that this is how the market works.

According to the agriculture department, pineapple has been grown on 2,245 hectares in Rangamati this year, with a production target of 58,000 tonnes. The wholesale market for seasonal fruit sits every Saturday and Wednesday.

Madhu Chakma, a trader who brought pineapples from Kattali in Longadu upazila, said he sold 9,700 pineapples on Wednesday at Tk 18 a piece, while at the start of Ramadan he sold them for Tk 30-40 each. Demand is starting to fall, so prices are falling, and without rain the pineapples are also getting smaller, he said.

Speaking from 30 years' experience in the trade, Madhu Chakma said: "I have been in the seasonal fruit business since 1997. I advance money to village farmers at planting time, then collect the crop when it comes and sell it wholesale at the market. I sell every fruit at this market: mango, jackfruit, lychee, guava, watermelon. This year buying pineapples from farmers cost me Tk 12-14 a piece. The market price can still be called good, but once the rains start prices will fall a lot. At that time, though, the pineapples will be much bigger."

Diku Chakma, a young farmer in Naniarchar upazila, has grown pineapples for the past two years alongside his studies. This year he planted a garden of 30,000 plants and has already sold 16,000 pineapples from it. "If you can work hard, you make a profit," Diku said. "Before Ramadan I sold for up to Tk 35 a piece. Now demand is low, and wholesalers are citing the fuel oil shortage. But considering the production cost, the price is still good. It will stay good until Chaitra-Baishakh."

Diku added that although pineapple is a summer fruit, farmers apply various medicines (hormones) to bring an early crop, so they can sell before the season and get a good price.

Amirul Haque, a trader from Dhaka, said that despite Ramadan there was no consumer demand for pineapples, so he was making losses; he lost nearly Tk 50,000 last week. Pineapples are now selling in Dhaka's retail markets at the price being asked at Rangamati's wholesale market, he said, and from the state of the market prices will fall further at the next market day.

Chhadekul Islam, a trader from Nilphamari, said buying pineapples is not the big issue; the cost of transporting them leaves them with nothing. Truck hire alone to take one truckload of pineapples to Nilphamari is nearly Tk 45,000, and then there are losses in transit, he said.

Md Moniruzzaman, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), said demand for pineapples was somewhat lower because there was still a touch of winter in the air. Many farmers produced for Ramadan, which increased supply. At current prices farmers should not be making losses, he said, but selling at excessive prices through syndicates in retail markets is not acceptable.

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