Fields in Ranipukur union of Mithapukur upazila, Rangpur, are heavy with an early crop of hyacinth beans (shim), and farmers are busy from morning to evening picking, sorting and sending them to market. But a gap of Tk 40-50 a kilo between the field and the retail market has them worried about a fair price, News Bangla 24's Rangpur correspondent reports.
Local traders say they are paying farmers Tk 45 a kilo for white beans and Tk 35 for black, with prices under pressure from plentiful supply. In retail markets the same beans sell at Tk 80-90 a kilo. Several changes of hands, transport, sorting and traders' margins push the price up along the way.
Farmers had hoped to earn Tk 1-1.5 lakh a bigha at a fair price. But land preparation, seed, fertiliser, pesticide, irrigation, wages and constant care have cost them heavily, and the hope of making up last year's losses is now uncertain.
Local trader Kamruzzaman said many farmers lost money on beans last year, so planting was widespread this year and the yield is a bumper one. A fair price would let them recover some of last year's losses and keep them growing beans next year.
According to the agriculture department, about 300 hectares of this flood-free area of Mithapukur go under beans each year; this year it is 300-350 hectares. Rangpur agriculture officer Sifat Jahan said the yield is good and farmers here grow beans because there is demand across the country.
People in the trade say that setting prices with production costs in mind, better marketing and curbing middlemen would benefit both farmers and buyers, and they want closer market monitoring.
Photo: Kamrul Islam Shahin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: News Bangla 24
Comments
(0)