BADC's Madarganj store holds more than three times its capacity and 57 loaded trucks wait outside, while farmers pay Tk 200 to Tk 250 a sack over the government price.
VegetablesPotatoes that cost Tk 19-20 a kg once storage and transport are paid sell for Tk 14; the district's 19 cold stores still hold about 105,000 tonnes, and growers want an export push.
A tenant farmer in Ruhia, Thakurgaon, says his seven bighas of rice began rotting and turning red the day after he sprayed several pesticides a local dealer supplied.
On the Thakurgaon border, people who once lived by carrying goods across the frontier have turned to fish farming, poultry and livestock.
